Shafia’s “Real. Relevant. Ready.” approach to Health Education creates a safe environment in which students and teacher “Keep it Real” and discuss the complexities of teen culture and decision making with straight-forward, open and honest dialogue. Shafia has insight into and understands the lives of teenagers, the issues they face, and the daily challenges and successes they navigate. She provides medically accurate information on the topics she covers as well as credible resources that are relevant to what teenagers are interested in, grappling with, and need to know to make positive and productive decisions in their lives. Shafia encourages students to self-reflect and be self-aware. She guides students to connect with their moral compass, so that they are ready to make decisions that honor their integrity.
Shafia's work has been highlighted in The New York Times, USA Today, on KQED, PBS, and NPR. Most recently, she was the keynote speaker on consent education in K-12 schools for the NAIS Annual Conference, Schools and Sexuality Symposium. Shafia has published high school curriculum guides for film; the documentary, The Hunting Ground, which examines the epidemic of sexual violence on college campuses; SOLD, a film about the sex trafficking of young girls in India and Nepal; and Trapped, a documentary film about U.S. reproductive health clinics, the impact of TRAP laws, and the 2016 Supreme Court Case: Whole Women’s Health vs. Hellerstedt. Shafia was also an educational consultant on the curriculum guide for the documentary film, Audrie and Daisy, which is about the sexual assault, social media exploitation, and resilience of teen sexual assault survivors in high school.
Shafia is a San Francisco native who has also lived in New York, Japan and China. She attended public, independent, and parochial schools throughout her own education. She enjoys the arts, outdoors, literature, travel, and lives in San Francisco with her husband, three children, and their dogs Twinkie and abby.