Dentist leads focus elevating women Arab American business owners

Dr. Asmaa Abdel-Salam is a general dentist at Precision Family Dental in Garden City and leads the Arab American Women’s Business Council’s Director of the Small Business Development Committee.

“We help network female business owners and we provide services,” Abdel-Salam says.

She joined the Arab American Women’s Business Council as a member in 2020 and worked her way up the ranks.

Recently, AAWBC received a New Economy Initiative grant to assist small business owners in Metro Detroit.

“I’m approached by a lot of female businesses asking, ‘What do I do, I need this machinery. Who do I go to?’ And we formed this sort of branch so that we can connect these business owners with those resources,” she says.

Abdel-Salam also volunteers for various organization boards, including the Health Unit on Davison Avenue (HUDA)’s dental clinic. She’s honored to be an Arab American who’s able to give back to her community.

“I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it had not been for my community, and when I say my community, it’s everyone — all races, nationalities, but specifically as an Arab American,” reflects Abdel-Salam.

Abdel-Salam recalls being one of the few Arab American women attending the University of Detroit Mercy’s dental program. Now there’s a growing population of Arab American dentists.

Abdel-Salam says she’s happy she can be a mentor and provide people with resources.

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  • Nargis Rahman

    Nargis Hakim Rahman is the Civic Reporter at 101.9 WDET. She works with the Documenters program to increase civic engagement. Rahman graduated from Wayne State University, where she was a part of the Journalism Institute of Media Diversity. Rahman started as an intern at WDET in 2010. She participated in the Feet in Two Worlds food journalism fellowship with WDET’s Detroit Storymakers project in 2018.

    Rahman is a Bangladeshi American who was raised in Metro Detroit. She is passionate about community journalism in the Greater Detroit area. She hopes to give American Muslims and minorities a voice in the press.

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