This human-centered design expert joins our team to improve our systems and create infrastructure that supports our work.
By Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel
Portrait taken by Caroline Olsen
We are excited to welcome Alaa to the team as City Bureau’s new Director of Operations!
Alaa brings more than a decade of experience as a software engineer and management consultant from a variety of industries. Her affinity for values-based and data-driven solutions greatly supports our team and reflects her long-standing focus on building effective operational systems.
We asked Alaa to share insights about her background and what she’s bringing to the role. Here are some of the highlights, edited for length and clarity.
What is your connection to place and where you call home?
I like to think of home as a tapestry, woven with threads of resilience, memories, and a deep connection to my heritage as a Palestinian refugee who grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to Chicago seven years ago.
My sense of place is not necessarily tied to a single geographic location, but rather to the people and experiences that have shaped my journey. Palestine is the heartbeat of my existence. It's the land where my roots are very buried, where the stories of my great grandparents persist. The resilience of my people, their enduring spirit of resistance, the deep sense of community—those are at the core of who I am. Home is every place I’ve lived, every person I've loved, every challenge I have overcome.
You're a software engineer turned management consultant. Tell me how you’ve navigated these lines of work when it comes to managing systems and people.
My journey from software engineer to director of operations has been a fascinating evolution. It is driven by this deep appreciation for both the precision of algorithms and complexities of human behavior. So as a software engineer, I thrived in the logic and structure that coding demands. There was something incredibly satisfying about creating elegant solutions to complex problems and seeing these lines of code coming together to form functional, efficient systems. I appreciated the predictability of algorithms and the analytical side of it.
Then I quickly realized that behind every piece of software, there's a human need and a problem that people face. Those insights sparked a passion for understanding the connection between technology and how it can enhance the human experience. This is where my role shift began, trying to look for opportunities where I can be that bridge between technology and people.
This perspective is what led me to management consulting, where I applied systematic thinking to organizational management. I enjoyed mapping out processes, identifying inefficiencies, and designing systems that made workflows smoother and more intuitive.
Right now in operations, I see a parallel to algorithm design and how I approach problem solving and process optimization. Just as an algorithm can be refined to perform better, organizational processes can be optimized to enhance productivity, employee satisfaction, and reach goals as a collective. I enjoy analyzing patterns, predicting outcomes, and implementing changes that manifest in tangible improvements for the organization.
What approaches ground your work and approach to organizational systems?
My work is grounded mainly in a deep commitment to bridging the gap between technology and people. First of all, I always approach my work with a human-centered design framework. I truly believe that the best systems and processes are those that prioritize the needs and behavior of the people who use them. So there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
I’m also grounded in data-driven decision making, informed by my background in software engineering. I rely heavily on data to guide my decisions, and analyzing data helps identify inefficiencies, uncover patterns, and predict outcomes which allow a more accurate and precise solution. The third principle is systems thinking, which recognizes that every component of an organization is interconnected. These perspectives allow me to design solutions that consider the broader context to ensure that changes in one area positively influence the entire system.
In a rapidly changing world, adaptability is essential, and my work is rooted in building resilient systems and teams that can quickly respond to new challenges and opportunities. It's not just about the technical agility of the solutions, but also how to foster that mindset and openness to change as well. These are some of the principles that guide my approach to how I do my work.
What drew you to City Bureau?
I moved to this role in the nonprofit sector because of City Bureau’s profound alignment with my values and experiences—especially right now, particularly as a Palestinian who is witnessing firsthand the brilliance and strength of a people facing genocide. City Bureau's mission to democratize journalism and empower communities to build their own stories resonated deeply with my own journey. I have always believed in the transformative power of getting people the tools, the platforms, to share their experiences. And witnessing the suppression of Palestinian narratives made it clear to me how vital it is to have those spaces where truth can be told and where diverse perspectives are not only welcomed but celebrated and supported.
I believe, as someone who comes from a very different perspective—almost a different universe, in a sense—than the universe we live in here in the United States, I think it is very crucial for people to recognize that the struggles faced by communities within our own borders here, such as racial injustices, economic inequality, police brutality, are truly, deeply linked to the struggles of people in places like Palestine. The systems of power and oppression that perpetuate these injustices are often the same, driven by similar forces of control and disregard for human rights. So understanding this can truly bring us together and shape our approach to how we want to implement a change in this universe.
To connect with Alaa, reach her at alaa@citybureau.org.