Lauren Schreiber is the co-founder and executive director of Center DC, and is excited to expand her role and to serve as the resident chaplain for our community.

Lauren has a Masters of Arts in Chaplaincy with a focus on Islamic Chaplaincy from Hartford Seminary, and completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at MedStar Washington Hospital Center under the mentorship of Ch. Tahara Akmal. Prior to that, she studied the personal obligations (Fard al Ayn) according to the Shafi'i school of thought under Shaykha Ieasha Prime and Usted Athman Jilo. She is on the Ethics Committee at the Association of Muslim Chaplains (AMC). She lives for strategic planning & culture creation in community spaces. Her most important (and favorite!) job is being a mom. You can often find her facilitating groups, talking about restorative justice and/or grief/death/dying, reading a Brene Brown book, building systems, writing music and making pupusas. She is a convert to Islam and especially loves learning about the paths others take in their respective faith journeys. Lauren lives in P.G. County, Maryland with her spunky daughter (Najia), her amazing husband (Muhammad Oda), and mom.

NOTE: Lauren’s 1:1 schedule is on a VERY limited availability after returning from maternity leave + caring for her new baby!

Sondos Kholaki is a board-certified chaplain with a decade of professional experience accompanying people through loss, grief, and life transitions in hospital and community settings. She earned her Master of Divinity in Islamic Chaplaincy from Bayan Islamic Graduate School, completed five units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), and holds board certification through the Association of Professional Chaplains. She also completed the two-year Dar al-Rayyan Traditional Studies program under Shaykh Walead Mosaad and serves as visiting faculty at The Islamic Seminary of America (TISA), the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), and previously at Bayan Islamic Graduate School.

Sondos believes that healing begins with being deeply seen, heard, and accompanied. She supports people navigating anxiety, grief, life transitions, questions of faith, and the search for meaning during seasons of constriction. She is especially passionate about helping people reconnect with their faith through life's trials by drawing on the timeless wisdom of the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Islamic scholarly tradition while engaging thoughtfully with the realities of life.

Sondos is the author of Musings of a Muslim Chaplain and co-editor of Mantle of Mercy: Islamic Chaplaincy in North America, and writes and presents regularly on spiritual care, grief, resilience, and Islamic chaplaincy. She is married with two children and enjoys a really good cup of coffee and singing her heart out at praise gatherings, and has a soft spot for animals.

Najiba is a chaplain and life coach who has been serving the Greater Boston Muslim community in various capacities for the past 20 years. She received her B.A. in Peace and Justice Studies from Wellesley College and her Masters in Social Work from Boston College. She holds a coaching certification at the associate level with Integral Coaching Canada. She has also studied under teachers from Boston Islamic Seminary and Fawakih Arabic Institute. She formerly served as Youth Director at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) and as the Muslim Chaplain at Wellesley College, Northeastern University, and Tufts University. 

Najiba's passion is to facilitate pathways for people to discover and develop their whole selves - spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, intuitively and more. She believes that we each have our own unique path to forge when it comes to our journey to know ourselves and ultimately to know God. She also co-hosts the Muslim Enneagram podcast, which explores the connection between Islam and the ancient Enneagram symbol, which is said to be a roadmap for the journey of the soul towards the Divine essence.

Scott Roby brings an eclectic background and unique perspective to the Center DC Care Team. A lifelong bibliophile, spiritual seeker, and self-professed Broadway, science fiction, and movie geek, he has served as an interfaith chaplain since 2020 - completing two units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) in the healthcare realm with residencies at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. and the Charles E. Smith Life Communities Center (CESLC) in Rockville, Maryland. At CESLC, he specialized in grief counseling, elder care, and hospice/palliative care. Prior to those residencies, he enjoyed nearly a decade of equivalent community and education pastoral care experience, and also formal certification, as a Minister of Congregational Care for the United Methodist Church, serving families of all ages. He received a Master of Theological  Studies degree from Perkins School of Theology (Southern Methodist University) in 2002, with a focus on spiritual care and comparative religion. He is currently a member of the Association of Muslim Chaplains (since 2023), and has been active with CenterDC and the Convert Support Group in particular since 2022.

A convert himself, Scott is an enthusiastic advocate for interfaith dialogue within the convert’s journey, and the spiritual questions that arise along the way. Moreover, he is committed to the process of curating meaning through shared stories, and how that opportunity results in a healing connection to the Divine. 

If asked about his own journey, Scott jokes, “I took the long way around.” Before becoming a chaplain, he was a vocational “jack of all trades” - serving as a radio disc jockey, lawyer and legislative aide, youth minister, religious educator, actor, spiritual director, film critic, writer, chorister, celebrant, Trader Joe’s crew member, and father (his favorite role). Scott and his family reside in Potomac, Maryland.

Suhaib William Webb holds a degree in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and completed his focus on Islamic Law at al-Azhar University in Cairo. He was named a “Faith Leader to Watch” by the Center for American Progress in 2016 and was selected by the Muslim community as one of CNN’s 25 Most Influential Leaders. He has also been recognized as one of the “500 Most Influential Muslims” by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. He served as resident scholar at the Islamic Center at New York University and taught a course on Islamic Law and Ethics at NYU. He has served on the North American Fiqh Council. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, and he has been featured on CNN, NBC, al-Jazeera, CBS, and other outlets. He founded and directs SWISS (the Suhaib Webb Institute of Sacred Sciences), an online school focused on functional religious literacy for English-speaking Muslims, and the Ella Collins Institute for Islamic Studies, a seminary based in the Washington that train educators, Imams and muftis in Washington DC, as well as resident scholar at Center DC.

Ailya Vajid integrates Islamic spiritual counseling with trauma-informed holistic care to support the whole person. Blending spirituality, breathwork, contemplative practice, and various somatic modalities, she gently supports the body’s innate ability to heal, fostering greater presence and a deeper connection to the heart.

Ailya’s spiritual care is rooted in deep compassion and centers Allah’s Mercy and loving presence. She welcomes you wherever you are in this moment, whether you’re just beginning to connect with Allah, in a strained or struggling relationship with Allah, or seeking to deepen your relationship. 

She is passionate about walking with people through life transitions, grief and loss, navigating identity, relationship issues, childhood trauma, life’s challenges, discovering greater meaning and purpose through our trials, and drawing on learning from the Qur’an and Sunnah on our life’s journey. 

Ailya has served as a spiritual care provider in educational and, more recently, community settings for the past twelve years. Ailya has a Master’s in Theological Studies (focused in Islamic Studies) from Harvard Divinity School, and she has studied various holistic healing modalities grounded in the Islamic tradition with teachers including Hakimah Hafsa Hasan (certificate in Ihsaas), Dr. Abdallah Rothman (Islamic Psychology, Shifaa Method, level 1), Hakim Salim Khan (Unani Tibb), and Ustadh Zuhair Girach (Aafiyah Healing). Ailya has also studied traditional Islamic studies and spirituality under various teachers and continues to pursue this lifelong learning. 

Ailya is a daughter, a wife, a bonus mom to two daughters, and a lover of nature and witnessing Allah’s Names and Qualities in Allah’s creation.

Chaplain Usama Malik is a proud lifelong resident of Austin, Texas. Usama completed his undergraduate studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015. After graduation, Usama attended Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary for study as a chaplain, and graduated in 2020 earning his Master of Divinity along with completing a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). In 2021, Usama completed a Graduate Certificate in Islamic Chaplaincy from Hartford Seminary, as well as his Master of Arts in Chaplaincy in 2024. In addition to his chaplaincy at Muslim Space, Usama has been available to members of the CenterDC community for virtual chaplaincy sessions and spiritual care. Apart from chaplaincy within community and third spaces settings, Usama also serves as a chaplain for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Trinity University in San Antonio. Usama currently works full-time at Austin Seminary in Communications and Marketing. Usama also currently serves on the Executive Board for the Association of Muslim Chaplains (AMC) as Communications Chair. Outside of work and school, Usama has a passion for photography, traveling, hiking, and walking and along with his wife Sara, who are proud parents to their pet rabbit, Raja!

Faduma Warsame holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of Qalam Seminary's five-year ʿĀlimiyyah program, where she pursued advanced studies in the Islamic sciences. 

She serves full-time as a Muslim Staff Chaplain at Mayo Clinic, providing compassionate spiritual care and faith-based support to patients, families, and healthcare staff across diverse clinical settings, with particular attention to illness, grief, end-of-life care, and the complex ethical and spiritual questions that arise in healthcare. She also serves as Assistant Director of Strive Sisterhood, where she helps lead educational initiatives, mentorship programs, retreats, and community-centered spaces aimed at nurturing spiritual and personal growth. She is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity at Bayan Islamic Graduate School/Claremont School of Theology, deepening her training in chaplaincy, spiritual and pastoral care and counseling. 

At the heart of all of this work is a simple, enduring passion of hers: sitting and walking with people through life's many seasons — illness, grief, doubt, transition, and joy. Faduma believes that healing is rarely a solitary journey, and that people need companions who will meet them honestly in their hardest moments, without judgment and without rushing them toward easy answers. Her approach draws on both traditional Islamic scholarship and pastoral care, offering a space where faith and real life are allowed to meet. In her free time, Faduma enjoys spending time with her loved ones and being outdoors.