Aisha Farooqi is committed to welcoming refugees and immigrants and building a robust refugee resettlement program. Farooqi and her family moved to the United States after her mother earned a scholarship to study chemistry at the University of Detroit. While her mother studied, her father worked at a small business. Through her parents, she learned the value of hard work and perseverance. The owners of the small business, the Leonellis, embraced Farooqi’s family as their own. They exemplified the meaning of community. Farooqi attended Detroit public schools, eventually graduating from her mother’s alma mater with a degree in law. Currently, she works as a real estate attorney and serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals for  the City of Sterling Heights. She is a member of the Macomb County Black Caucus and the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council of Detroit.