Our Team

Malak Afaneh

Staff Attorney

Malak Afaneh is a Staff Attorney at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), where she litigates cases involving constitutional rights, civil rights, and discrimination. Before joining ADC, Malak served as Director of the Palestine Center for Public Policy and worked with organizations including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. Malak earned her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she served as Co-President of Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine and was a member of the Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Law. She received her B.A. in Politics and Middle Eastern Studies from Pomona College. Her work focuses on First Amendment litigation, civil rights advocacy, and protecting the rights of Arab Americans, Muslims, Palestinians, and other marginalized communities.

Jeremy Loffredo

Communications Manager

Bio to come.

Nabil Mohamad

Vice President

Bio to come.

Deyar Jamil

General Counsel

Deyar Jamil serves as General Counsel for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Law School. Prior to joining ADC, Deyar worked for a civil rights law firm that terminated her employment for calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Since then, she has been a relentless advocate for justice in Palestine and free speech in America. Ms. Jamil is a seasoned investigator, attorney, and former Federal Agent. She served as lead agent in multiple Grand Jury investigations into misappropriation of public funds, public corruption, and other complex fraud schemes. Her work has been highlighted before Congress on multiple occasions.

Ruslan Moldovanov

Director of Marketing

Ruslan Moldovanov is Director of Marketing at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). In this role, Ruslan develops digital marketing strategy and fundraising communications, oversees ADC's website, email, and paid advertising, and manages the organization's analytics and media-tracking tools to strengthen public reach and fundraising. Prior to joining ADC, Ruslan was Deputy Director of Communications and Marketing at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, where he led integrated MarComms efforts, multimedia strategy, and creative production in support of high-impact litigation. He built a newsroom-speed marketing operation that contributed to an increase in annual fundraising and earned consistent coverage on CNN, NBC, and Fox News, and in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Earlier, he worked as a researcher intern at the Cato Institute and as a copywriter for the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism's special projects. Ruslan holds an M.A. in European Studies from Jagiellonian University in Krakow (magna cum laude) and an M.A. in Management from Southern Federal University (summa cum laude).

Valentina Pereda

Managing Director of Communications

Valentina Pereda is a communications strategist and political operative with more than 15 years of experience working across government, campaigns, civil rights, journalism, and advocacy. She currently serves as the Managing Director of Communications at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), where she drives the organization’s communications and creative strategy, shapes its public voice and national profile, and leads its engagement with the media on some of the country’s most consequential civil rights and civil liberties debates. Pereda began her career in the DNC and Obama campaign, and later joined the Obama White House and administration, working on issues that included immigration, national security, and public engagement. She later joined Hillary for America as Florida Press Secretary during the 2016 presidential campaign before becoming Communications Director for When We All Vote, the civic engagement organization founded by Michelle Obama. Her career has also taken her outside traditional political institutions. She spent several years in El Salvador working as an independent video journalist, covering migration, regional security, and social issues, and later co-founded the Venezuelan Diaspora Project. Those experiences shaped an approach to communications that combines political strategy with a strong understanding of how movements, media, and public opinion intersect. After parting ways with the Democratic Party, Pereda began organizing independent voters and politically unaffiliated communities, work she continues today. In the early months of the genocide in Gaza, that organizing expanded to include hundreds of former Obama-Biden administration and campaign staffers who came together to publicly call for a ceasefire. She continues to organize across this broader political network around Palestine, Venezuela, free speech, civil liberties, and other issues where government policy, political power, and constitutional rights collide.

Jenin Younes

President & Legal Director

Jenin Younes is President and Legal Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). She is an experienced constitutional and impact litigator with a strong track record of defending individuals from unconstitutional government action. A graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law, she worked as an appellate public defender in New York City for nine years, defending indigent individuals convicted of serious felonies. She spent the next five years defending Americans' civil liberties in federal courts, with a focus on First Amendment free speech cases, before joining ADC as legal director in September of 2025. Jenin has extensive experience communicating legal issues and arguments to the public, and has appeared on hundreds of podcast, radio, and television shows for this purpose, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The New Yorker Radio Hour with David Remnick, System Update, and Fox News. She routinely participates in panel discussions and debates, and has published opinion editorials in a range of outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Free Press, Compact Magazine, and Tablet. She has been profiled by the Washington Post and the American Conservative. Jenin intentionally seeks to work across the aisle, as she firmly believes this is the most effective way to secure Americans' rights from government infringement regardless of which political party holds a position of power at any given time.