Executive Editor Zareen Jaffery joined Kokila in January 2020, and continues to publish books across age groups. She has worked with a number of New York Times bestselling, award-winning, and critically acclaimed authors, including Ibram X. Kendi, Lupita Nyong’o, Autumn Allen, Aisha Saeed, S.K. Ali, Kristina, Forest, Jenny Han, Mary H.K. Choi, Hena Khan, Lilliam Rivera, Hanna Alkaf, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, and Grace K. Shim. She is the founding editor of Salaam Reads, an imprint at Simon & Schuster which launched in 2016 about Muslim children and families. Prior to Simon & Schuster, Zareen worked on commercial teen fiction at HarperCollins Children’s Books and adult fiction and non-fiction at Hyperion books (Walt Disney/ABC). She is the co-founder of Muslims in Publishing, an affinity group for publishing professionals. She is a graduate of New York University, and currently lives in California.