Abeer Itayem

My name is Abeer Itayem. I was born in 13 November 1060, and raised in El-Birah, Palestine. My ethnic background explains a lot of who I am and the values I have developed. My parents are both Palestinian but my father came to America when he was teenager and was able to live the American dream. However, my mother had chosen to live in Palestine and raise me with my brother and my two sisters. My mother raised me while my father was working in the US to provide for us. My mother doesn’t speak English but visited the US few times and kept her traditional values. I grew up with a large family because my relatives all lived in the same area. My family and my mother in particular provided me with the moral that I hold to be true.

When I was a young girl I had a dream. Like every little girl I fantasized about becoming something like my mother and raise a family. Like any girl going to school, they have to learn, but to me it was something that I had to do because eventually I will get married. As I grew up, I began to realize that life isn’t about raising a family and that I have to answer my true calling and eventually led to discovering my real passion.

I was married at 16 years old and left the West Bank to the US to finish my high school in Brooklyn, NY. Then, I had my first little girl Vivian. I decided to stay home and raise a family like my mom. Times goes past than I had my second baby boy Jay than my third baby girl Niveen. During this time, I felt there is something missing out of my life and decided to return to school and got my two years associate degree in Business Administration.

In 1998, I was divorced and a single mom raising three children. I worked for Bank of America as a teller, and continued my education and raise my children. During this time, I was going one hundred mile in hour and discovered how hard for a woman to make it in the work force but that did not stop me from being more determined to make it on my own. In 2001, I started my career with US State Department as a translator and attained my master degree in Intelligence Study concentrating in the Middle East. After 13 years, my mother became ill and decided to go back to Palestine and take care of my mother.

I can identify myself with so many things. I love politics, helping working women, watch movies and walk. I work with businesswomen to enhance their financial situation, eat, and walk. I enjoy talking to businesswomen and helped them to increase their revenue and market their service or products.

I am currently working for Glow Innovation as the Chief Marketing Officer to promote the Palestinian products abroad. My greatest dream is to empower women abroad. I my not be able to help as many women as I would like but I will always work hard so that I can help as many as I could.