Salwa Kisswani

A Palestinian-American UI/UX Developer, an iOS Programmer, and the founder of KisswaniX Media, a Digital Media Agency based in New York City.

At the age of 9, she was introduced to her favorite musical instrument, the Violin. Salwa’s school’s principal offered to pay for her music classes after noticing her natural talent for the instrument. A few months later, She was offered a full scholarship to Edward Saed Music Institute, where she played with the Palestinian National Orchestra.

At 13 years, Salwa was certified by the Arab Islamic Bank for her Full year of entrepreneurship training along with her high GPA.

Later she was nominated for Poem of the Year 2007 – 2008 award for her Poem “The Moon.” She had also published “The Lost” in “Great Poems of the Western World.” She was later certified by The American Library of Poetry Twice in 2013.

At 16, She had joined the United Nations through an NGO called Temple of Understanding. Salwa had created different research groups to look up further in domestic violence, smoking, and bullying and prevent them in society.

She is a certified Professional Peer Mediator from her Conflict Resolution training that had provided her with the opportunity to express ideas about education and poverty globally at a United Nations conference.

Later she was involved with the United Federation of Teachers to spread awareness about bullying in schools. She became a mentor to two students with learning disabilities within her school.

Summer of 2012, Salwa interned at the United Nations Headquarters in NYC, researching the topic of Palestine and the UN status.
Reaching exposure to many opportunities worldwide with different NGOs, with a significant role during the Arms Trade Treaty, after the internship, she became a Young Professional with UN women.

During her undergraduates, Salwa had joined many extracurricular activities. Being the Vice President of the International Students Club and the Secretary/Vice President of the Intramural Advisory Council, she was certified for both leadership roles by The College of Staten Island.

Along with the United Nations, Temple of Understanding, UFT, Building Bridges, and many other NGOs, Salwa was a guest speaker at two different United Nations conferences and a vital member of the task force curating the “Season for Nonviolence Conference” 2012.

Salwa’s work is known by Amnesty International, PCRF- Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, MGB- Muslims Giving Back, and Jewish Voice for Peace. Not including more than 138 certificates and achievement awards she had received throughout the years.

Salwa is an entrepreneur and a world traveler; during the summer of 2015, Salwa went on a world tour starting from her hometown in Staten Island, NY to San Francisco, Japan, China, Moscow, Turkey and ended in Mexico.

After her trip, Salwa’s goal was to travel to every country in the world by the age of 30 years old while she documents her travels on her blog WorldBefore30.com. Salwa had traveled to 58 countries so far.

Salwa returned to New York for her senior year towards her Bachelor of Science in Digital Media & Design, 2016, and Bachelor of Art in Cinema Critics and Filmmaking, graduating in May 2018.

She earned a 180 Hours of intensive TEFL, TESOL, TOEFL IELTS TOEIC, and a 60 Hours TEYL, Teaching Business English, Teaching Hotel and Resort English certificate where she used to teach English abroad in Turkey and Online to elementary and High School students from all around China.

Salwa speaks four languages, including English, Arabic, French, and Spanish. She’s a Certified photographer, American Red Cross Disaster Assistant, and a CUNY Corps member for 2016.

Certified by The National Financial Educators Council – Financial Literacy Program 2012, and by Brooklyn Public Library for the Investing 101 for the Teen Virtual Investment Club 2013 program- Focused on Stock Market Success.

She’s also an online contributor at the Huffington Post Travel, Medium, Behance, BuzzFeed & World News.

Salwa completed more than 20,185 in community service & volunteering hours. An Alumni of HBX / Harvard Business School, Pre-MBA; Business Administration and Management 2016 and the founder of the brand Digital Hyde, the Co-Founder of Top Tier Law Firms.