2026 Refugee and Immigrant Volunteer Summit

Farah Hottle is the founder of Origins Consulting Group, where she helps organizations build inclusive, high-performing cultures grounded in empathy and people strategy. Prior to this, Farah led diversity and inclusion for a a $1B+ global organization, that was recognized by Newsweek America as a top company for diversity in 2023.

She serves on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, the Afghan Association of Central Virginia, and is an advisory member of the Virginia Muslim Civic League. Farah also owns Amana Realty, where she helps families buy and sell homes across Central Virginia. As a real estate agent, she is passionate about the power of homeownership to change lives. She lives in Hanover her husband, four kids, and a spoiled maltese.

Lyons Sanchezconcha immigrated from Lima, Peru and grew up in Northern Virginia until his college journey took him to Charlottesville. Serving as a college adviser brought him to Huguenot High School, where he held many roles in nearly a decade, most recently as the school's first Latino and immigrant administrator. In his time in Richmond, Lyons participated in the Sacred Heart Center's Latino Leadership Institute and worked there part time for a while before returning home to serve as the Center's next Executive Director. Lyons gets his drive to serve from his caring and selfless mother, and his energy and unwavering work-ethic from his hard-working father. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, the University of Richmond, and currently finalizing a doctorate at Columbia University. Lyons received the Persona de Poder community recognition in 2020 and was named in the Top 40 Under 40 by Richmond Style Weekly in 2023. In his [little] free time, Lyons enjoys exploring Richmond and playing with his black Goldendoodle, Douglas.

Dr. Mona Hafeez Siddiqui is a civil rights attorney and academic scholar dedicated to bridging the gap between the legal protections embedded in constitutional values of civil rights and liberties, and unjust experiences of prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion. She earned her law degree at the University of Maryland School of Law and her doctoral degree Public Policy and Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University's Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. Her doctoral research centered on the "Civil Right to Belong: A Case Study on Immigrant Integration." As a civil rights advocate, she has dedicated her career to public service. She served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division in the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, and Deputy Diversity Officer and Senior Policy Advisor on Immigrant Integration in Governor Northam's administration. In this role, she advised the Governor's Office and the Department of Social Services' Office of New Americans on policy issues relating to meaningful integration of new immigrants, including refugees, and fostering a more inclusive and welcoming Commonwealth. Most recently, she worked as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and related civil rights statutes that prohibit discrimination by recipients of federal funds on the basis of race, color, national origin (including language access). Mona is a first generation American who lives in Midlothian with her family, and is actively involved in her local community. She has served on a variety of boards and commissions, including the Virginia Muslim Civic League, Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, Virginia Poverty Law Center, Leadership Metro Richmond, Governor's McAuliffe's Commission for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Virginia Asian Advisory Board.