Meet Our Team
Our team comes from diverse professional backgrounds with a shared vision of building a high-caliber full-time Islamic day school for own children and the children in our community. We want to offer Muslim children the best of an integrated general and Islamic education. Knowing this is an unfulfilled need in NYC, we are working diligently to establish Mercy Day School.
Sehrish Khan
Sehrish believes that strong schools grow from strong communities—and is dedicated to ensuring Mercy Day School reflects the values, hopes, and aspirations of the families it serves. She believes that excellence in general education and core Islamic education should not be mutually exclusive and embarked on this journey to prove it. Her education in engineering and 15 years of experience in product management and data-driven strategy—spanning organizations from Fortune 500 to startups—bring both vision and structure to building an institution centered on mercy, excellence, and belonging.
Raised in New York City and now raising her own children here, Sehrish is deeply invested in creating a school that nurtures confident, compassionate, and grounded young leaders—individuals who thrive in the modern world while remaining rooted in faith.
Aisha Jukaku
Aisha spent almost 15 years in Finance and Strategy first at Goldman Sachs in investment banking and then at International Finance Corporation, investing in educational institutions across the developing world. Aisha spent the majority of her career in Corporate Finance & Strategy at Estee Lauder working on various teams with increasing responsibility.
New York has been her home for 17 years and she is committed to building an intentional Muslim community here for our children. After her son was born, Aisha became a stay at home mom and she is now focused on fostering a love of Islam in him and the children in our community. Two years ago, in partnership with the ICNYU, Aisha launched a bi-weekly toddler and parent class to teach young children about Islam in a fun, communal and kid-friendly way. She is now focused full-time on building Mercy Day School into a model Islamic school that provides rigorous general education integrated with a foundational Islamic education.
Umar Khan
Umar is an attorney whose practice focuses on corporate governance and transactional matters, and his goal is to help ensure that the Mercy Day School is properly observing legal formalities and has a high standard of governance. Umar lives on the Upper East Side with his wife and son. Umar is interested in helping the Muslim community of Manhattan fulfill a critical community need - the establishment of an Islamic school that teaches our religious tradition and that also provides a excellent secular and liberal arts education.
Sulaiman Mustapha
Sulaiman most recently was serving as the CTO and Technical Director at immersionED, an AI-based Ed-tech startup in NYC and is the co-founder and CEO of The Bounty Collegium, a K-12 Islamic school in Toledo, Ohio. Sulaiman is also the Creative Director at Muftah Magazine, an internationally renowned philosophy journal. As a patented inventor, father, and friend, he is eager to serve his new community in NYC.
Imam Khalid Latif
Imam Khalid most recently was the Executive Director and Chaplain for Islamic Center at New York University, where he served for nearly 2 decades. He’s now leading the effort to build The Islamic Center of New York City (ICNYC) - a state of the art epicenter for Muslim life in Manhattan, centered on the pillars of knowledge (علم), fellowship (صحبة), and service (خدمة). Imam Khalid is serving as an advisor to Mercy Day School.
We extend our deepest appreciation to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, whose pro bono legal partnership has enabled us to navigate the complexities of building a new institution with clarity and confidence. Their expertise, care, and commitment to service reflect the true spirit of community, and we are sincerely grateful for their support and partnership.