Husam Sokar

• Now
  Co-founder & CEO of a stealth startup, backed by DoorDash’s early team. Spent summer 2026 building it full-time in San Francisco.
• 2023–2024
  Founder & President, bayloop. A Fresno think tank fighting restrictive zoning. Organized 7 youth phone banks across the Central Valley and did legislative research with the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.
• 2023
  Paid Intern, Jetson. Fintech for teens. 1 of 40 chosen from 1,000+ applicants.
• 2020
  Electric Deals, at 14. Ran retail arbitrage stores on Facebook, with ~$20,000 in revenue at a ~43% margin, 400+ products shipped and 131+ positive reviews. Also drop-shipped on eBay, with ~$8,000 in revenue at a ~39% margin and 150+ positive reviews.
• Growing up
  Admin assistant, his father’s law firm. Worked billing and back-office operations.

Grants

• LeapYear. $30K grant, backed by Hank Couture and Charlton Soesanto.
• Startups @ Harvard. Non-dilutive grant, backed by XFund.
• Telora Fellowship. Finalist, 1 of 16 from 1K+ applicants, for a $55K grant and a 6-month residency. Withdrew.
• GripTape Challenger. Grant, 2023.

• 2025–now
  Harvard College. Started in fall 2025 and now a sophomore, concentrating in Applied Math in Government and Economics.
• 2025–now
  Chair (Senior Staff), Harvard Model Congress, Boston & Europe. Directs the Boston conference, North America’s largest congressional simulation, with 1,500+ delegates from 100+ schools. Also staffs HMC Europe, with 500+ delegates from 20+ countries. Chair since January 2026, on staff since September 2025.
• 2025–now
  Project Team Lead for TPR/AlgoEd, The Harvard Crimson Business Board. Leads international writing and leadership camps with The Princeton Review and AlgoEd for the nation’s oldest daily college newspaper (est. 1873, a $1M+ media enterprise). Before that, as Global Programs Associate, moderated and judged the international semifinal and final rounds of the Harvard Crimson Global Quiz Bowl, and went to South Korea to mentor students and lead two weeks of workshops on writing, leadership and journalism.
• 2025–now
  Harvard service, ethics and leadership fellowships.

  • First-Year Outdoor Program leader
  • Honor Council member
  • Harvard Hillel Travel Program Fellow, on a research tour of Lithuania, Poland and Hungary
  • Catalyst Sustainability Scholar, on a service-learning trip to Puerto Rico
  • SPARK Fellow, summer 2025, with a $2,000 stipend for 7 weeks of public service
  • Fong Family Public Service Fellow, winter, with $1,000 for one month
• 2025–2026
  Mentor, Emerging Leaders Program, Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Mentored Boston high-school sophomores in leadership and social activism.
• 2025–now
  Also at Harvard. Operations, Harvard College China Forum (America’s largest conference on US-China relations). Assistant Director of Operations, Harvard International Relations Council (Harvard Model UN and Harvard National Model UN). Associate, Leadership Institute at Harvard College (Youth Lead the Change conferences).

• 2025–2026
  Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School. Analyst on the Harvard Youth Poll, America’s largest poll of 18–29-year-olds. Associate to Ambassador Katherine Tai, 19th U.S. Trade Representative. Consulting for the Red Cross and the United Nations.
• Summer 2025
  Fellow, Policy Program in Economics, Institute of Politics. Researched the impact of international students on Harvard and U.S. universities.
• 2025–2026
  Senior Associate, Harvard Global Research and Consulting Group. Consulting for UNICEF and the Urban Institute, and for the WHO and the UN.
• 2024
  Research Fellow, Ballotpedia. 1 of 12 from 90+ applicants.
• 2023–2024
  Researcher, The World in Us.
• 2023
  Public Health Policy Analyst, Institute for Youth in Policy.
• 2022–2023
  Econometrics research, University of Nevada, Reno. Under Prof. Mark Pingle, on the paper Can Private Enterprise do for Health Care What it Has Done for Food?
• 2022–2023
  Economics research, University of Houston and Chapman University. Chapman in 2022 and Houston in early 2023.

• 2021–2023
  Lead Advocate, CAIR, Sacramento. Five California bills worked end to end. Lead community advocate for AB 1766 (California IDs for All), with Asm. Jim Patterson’s office (Legislative Director Ian Coolbear) and Sen. Shannon Grove’s office. Also advocated for AB 1947 (Freedom from Hate Crimes), SB 1161 (Transit Safety), AB 2549 (Ending Street Harassment) and SB 1038 (limits on biometric surveillance by law enforcement).
• 2024–2025
  Executive Director of Operations, Diversify Our Narrative. 1 of 5 executives leading a national 501(c)(3) of 5,000+ student organizers and 800+ district chapters pushing curriculum equity reform. Featured in TIME, Bloomberg, Vox, ABC Nightline and The Washington Post.
• 2024–2025
  Managing Director, California High School Democrats. 1 of 9 directors, managing all regions. Also National Muslim Caucus, High School Democrats of America (2023–2025).
• 2024
  Election Fellow, Voters of Tomorrow. 1 of 50 paid fellows, phone banking and canvassing.
• 2022
  Congressional Intern, Office of Kevin McCarthy, U.S. House. Clovis, California, June to December.
• 2022
  Executive Director, LegislativeLift. A global Muslim civil-rights nonprofit with 11K+ members and 80+ volunteers. Ran events in Egypt, India and the U.S., plus scholar programs and legislative literacy work. Earlier its Outreach Director, and a volunteer.

Programs

• Civics Unplugged Fellow ’23 (11% acceptance)
• Advocacy Fellow, Encode Justice (2022)
• ACLU National Advocacy Institute
• American Legion California Boys State delegate

• 2021–2025
  VP & Executive Director, Muslim Community Association of Fresno. A youth-driven nonprofit. 150+ community events. $240K+ raised for Syrian and Afghan refugees and Pakistan flood victims. Secured a $500K pledge for Fresno’s first Muslim women’s transitional home, addressing homelessness and domestic abuse. Ran clothing and food drives and mentoring groups at local mosques and Islamic schools. Joined the board in September 2021 as Director of Outreach, then of Relations and of External Relations, and became VP & Executive Director in May 2022.
• 2022
  MSA Director of Community Relations, Clovis Community College.
• 2023
  Tutor, Instilt Educate.
• 2018–2021
  Volunteer, Masjid Fresno Saturday School. Most Saturdays.
• 2015–2021
  Volunteer, Central California Food Bank. Most Sundays.

• Languages
  English and Arabic. California State Seal of Biliteracy in Arabic. Translates professionally between Arabic and English.
• 2022–2024
  Senior English Writer, White House in Arabic. Began as an intern. Edited and translated press briefings, op-eds and documentary scripts between Arabic and English under Marah Bukai, Washington Bureau Chief of Al-Arab Media Organization. 350K+ combined readers and viewers (150K+ readers, 200K+ viewers). Articles he edited or translated include

  • Mustafa Al-Kazemi’s Crucial Role in the MENA Region
  • The Sadrist Movement’s Sit-In Sends Iraq into Political Turmoil
  • MalikiLeaks: When Sectarianism Rules Iraq
  • Iraq to Play a Major Role at Jeddah Summit
  • The Possible Outcomes of the Iraqi Political Crisis
  • Biden in Palestine: Is Health a Path to Statehood?
• Apr 2025
  Contributor, Wall Street Journal. Harvard-Bound Students Stand Firm While Some Columbia Prospects Think Twice, April 16, 2025.
• Oct 2024
  Contributor, The Nation. AI Is Taking Over College Admissions, October 11, 2024.
• 2023–2024
  Press Officer, Youth Climate Action Team.
• Program
  Princeton Summer Journalism Program finalist. About 60 of 900+.

• NSDA National Tournament Finalist, Congressional Debate. 1 of 20 from 50,000+.
• California Mock Trial Finals MVP. 1 of 128 from 5,000+ competitors.
• NSDA Student Leadership Council, 2024–2025. 1 of 23 students nationwide, representing 140,000+ members to the national board.
• NSDA National Semifinalist, Congressional Debate
• 4× NSDA National Qualifier
• NSDA National Legislation Author, 1 of 41 from 500+
• CHSSA Congressional Debate semifinalist (top 15 in California) and CHSSA Public Forum octofinalist
• UOP Invitational, 3× champion in Parliamentary Debate, Oral Interpretation and Best Speaker
• Berkeley National Congress Tournament, 3rd place
• Ethics Bowl, California state quarterfinalist (top 8)
• TED Student Talks mentee (2023)

Scholarships

• Coca-Cola Scholar. 1 of 150 from 105,000+.
• Gates Scholar. 1 of 750 from 48,000+.
• Benjamin A. Gilman Scholar.
• QuestBridge. National College Match Finalist (1 of 7,287 from 25,500), College Prep Scholar (1 of 3,911 from 16,000) and Quest for Excellence Award in Humanities (1 of about 100 from 3,911).
• Taco Bell Live Más Scholar. $10K, 1 of about 400 from 14,000.
• Elks Most Valuable Student Semifinalist. 1 of 500 from 21,000+.

National recognition

• Princeton Prize in Race Relations, San Francisco. 1 of 3 from 600+.
• NSDA Student of the Year. 1 of 86 from 140,000+.
• JFK Profile in Courage Essay Contest, top 5% (about 150 of 2,800+)
• International Geography Olympiad, Team USA qualifier, 7th nationally with a perfect qualifying score
• International Climate Science Olympiad semifinalist, top 5% of 55,000+
• National African American Recognition Program
• National History Day, 2× Valley Champion
• Summa Cum Laude, Clovis Community College

Selective programs

• Telluride Association Summer Seminar, summer 2024, in Washington DC and Baltimore. 1 of 72 from 2,400+ applicants for a tuition-free seminar in Critical Black Studies. Elected house chair.
• Coolidge Scholarship Senator, 1 of 100 from 4,100+
• Notre Dame Leadership Seminars, about 90 of 1,500+
• High School Diplomats finalist, about 80 of 700+
• USC Young Leaders Summit Scholar, about 200 of 1,800+

• President’s Volunteer Service Award, Lifetime. 4,000+ service hours.