Ms. Hassan holds a J. D. from Harvard Law School and is the author of the first study of domestic violence in Pakistan, which became Pakistan's submission to the Beijing conference 1995. She clerked on the D.C. Court of Appeals from 1994-1995. She practiced international corporate law at Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1995-2003. From 2003-2008, she was at the UN Division for the Advancement of Women.

Faiza Jama Mohamed holds a Masters in Business Administration from California State University (Fresno) and a Bachelor's Degree from Ahfad University-College for Women in The Sudan in organizational management. She has twenty years of experience working for international organizations, in particular for African women's rights, and has been an active member of the women's movement in Somalia