Tahirih Justice Center CEO and leadership

Layli Miller-Muro is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting women and girls from human rights abuses through the provision of legal aid and public policy advocacy. Since 2001, she has led the organization in its service to over 27,000 women and girls, growing it from a staff of 6 to over 100, and expanding its offices to San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, and Baltimore in addition to the Washington, DC area. In recognition of its sound management and innovative programs, under Layli’s leadership, Tahirih won the Washington Post Award for Management Excellence and its innovative use of pro bono attorneys to quintuple its resources was featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Layli was included in Goldman Sachs 2012 inaugural list of the Top 100 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs and named by Newsweek Magazine as one of the 150 Most Fearless Women in the World.

Layli founded the organization in 1997 following her involvement in a high-profile case that set national precedent and revolutionized asylum law in the United States. Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who had fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and a tribal practice known as female genital mutilation, was granted asylum in 1996 by the US Board of Immigration Appeals. This decision opened the door to gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. Using her portion of the proceeds from a book she and Ms. Kassindja co-authored about the case (Do They Hear You When You Cry? Delacorte Press, 1998), Layli established Tahirih.

Specialties: Human rights, refugee, immigration, and international law. Women's rights. Non-profit organizational development. Board of Director relations. Media relations, public policy advocacy, and public relations.

Layli Miller-Muro is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting women and girls from human rights abuses through the provision of legal aid and public policy advocacy. Since 2001, she has led the organization in its service to over 27,000 women and girls, growing it from a staff of 6 to over 100, and expanding its offices to San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, and Baltimore in addition to the Washington, DC area. In recognition of its sound management and innovative programs, under Layli’s leadership, Tahirih won the Washington Post Award for Management Excellence and its innovative use of pro bono attorneys to quintuple its resources was featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Layli was included in Goldman Sachs 2012 inaugural list of the Top 100 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs and named by Newsweek Magazine as one of the 150 Most Fearless Women in the World.

Layli founded the organization in 1997 following her involvement in a high-profile case that set national precedent and revolutionized asylum law in the United States. Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who had fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and a tribal practice known as female genital mutilation, was granted asylum in 1996 by the US Board of Immigration Appeals. This decision opened the door to gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. Using her portion of the proceeds from a book she and Ms. Kassindja co-authored about the case (Do They Hear You When You Cry? Delacorte Press, 1998), Layli established Tahirih.

Specialties: Human rights, refugee, immigration, and international law. Women's rights. Non-profit organizational development. Board of Director relations. Media relations, public policy advocacy, and public relations.

Layli Miller-Muro is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting women and girls from human rights abuses through the provision of legal aid and public policy advocacy. Since 2001, she has led the organization in its service to over 27,000 women and girls, growing it from a staff of 6 to over 100, and expanding its offices to San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, and Baltimore in addition to the Washington, DC area. In recognition of its sound management and innovative programs, under Layli’s leadership, Tahirih won the Washington Post Award for Management Excellence and its innovative use of pro bono attorneys to quintuple its resources was featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Layli was included in Goldman Sachs 2012 inaugural list of the Top 100 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs and named by Newsweek Magazine as one of the 150 Most Fearless Women in the World.

Layli founded the organization in 1997 following her involvement in a high-profile case that set national precedent and revolutionized asylum law in the United States. Fauziya Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who had fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and a tribal practice known as female genital mutilation, was granted asylum in 1996 by the US Board of Immigration Appeals. This decision opened the door to gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. Using her portion of the proceeds from a book she and Ms. Kassindja co-authored about the case (Do They Hear You When You Cry? Delacorte Press, 1998), Layli established Tahirih.

Specialties: Human rights, refugee, immigration, and international law. Women's rights. Non-profit organizational development. Board of Director relations. Media relations, public policy advocacy, and public relations.