Zeenat Haji

Zeenat (she/her) joined Sexual Violence Response in February 2023 and serves as a Prevention Coordinator. She provides trainings and workshops to students in the Columbia community, particularly the New Student Orientation Program at the beginning of Fall, Spring, and Summer terms, and any requested trainings throughout the year, covering issues such as IPV, consent, and bystander intervention. 

She has over 8 years of experience in training, program development, and implementation. She has been committed to helping diverse communities of youth and adults develop skills to make informed decisions for their health and well-being around violence prevention, sexual and reproductive health,- and healthy relationships. Her unique perspective as an immigrant gives her insight into the many health inequities and challenges faced by people from different cultural and faith backgrounds. Through her experience, she has seen firsthand how comprehensive and culturally competent preventative education can promote positive health outcomes, and she is committed to ensuring that this education is accessible to all.

Zeenat started her journey at South Asian Youth Action, where she focused on the topics of consent, body image, and self-empowerment. She broadened her knowledge and skills around sexual and reproductive health at Planned Parenthood North Central States. There, she led culturally specific peer education programs for adults and implemented a parent education program focused on strengthening relationships by fostering age-appropriate conversations around sexual health. Her previous role at Day One allowed her to focus on early relationship abuse prevention by providing programs around healthy relationships to middle school youth.

Zeenat is a lover of music festivals, true crime podcasts, binging TV shows, spending time with loved ones, and as a native Minnesotan, finding every chance to be out in green spaces and the water.