Ferzana Hashmi was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Pakistani and
      Tanzanian parents.  As a child, she learned to speak English and French at
      school and Urdu at home.  Because the rules, culture and language changed
      depending on where young Attorney Hashmi found herself, she became a master
      at adapting to changes in cultures, rules, languages and circumstances.  For
      this reason, clients find it easy to talk to Attorney Hashmi, irrespective
      of background, country of origin or language.  Ferzana Hashmi has developed
      over time a special cultural competency as the child of immigrants in a
      foreign, yet not foreign land.  She credits growing up with one foot in the
      West and one foot in the East for these cultural competency skills,
      essential her law practice.

      During elementary school, Ferzana Hashmi moved to the neighborhood of
      Jamaica in Queens, New York with her family and added Spanish to her growing
      list of languages.  Queens is the most diverse county in the United States
      with the most amount of representation in ethnic groups, countries or
      languages, a veritable melting pot right across the way from Ellis Island
      and the Statute of Liberty.  The immigrant experience is all the Ferzana
      Hashmi has known.  As a youngster, she was able to experience the plight and
      suffering of immigrants, who were not equipped with the English language or
      knowledge of American laws.  The hardships of her parents in New York city
      motivated Attorney Hashmi to fight for the rights of immigrants from a young
      age and to excel in English and at school.

      At the age of 8, Ferzana Hashmi took her first international flight alone
      and unchaperoned and there began an unquenchable thirst for international
      travel and different cultures and languages.  Since then, Attorney Hashmi
      has traveled to more than 30 countries alone, all the while learning to fit
      in and communicate outside of her comfort zone.  She has lived, worked or
      studied in China, France, Mexico, England, Belgium, Canada and the United
      States.  Today, Attorney Hashmi finds herself in the sleepy college town of
      Ames, Iowa, the fiancée of an Iowa State University professor.  It is
      through her practice of immigration law and her work with Iowa's immigrants
      that Ferzana Hashmi continues to travel vicariously in hearing the stories
      of her clients, whether they are Liberian, Mexican, Indian, British,
      Honduran or German in origin, but current Iowa residents.

      Attorney Hashmi is no stranger to competition and excellence.  At the age of
      13, Attorney Hashmi passed an entrance exam and was admitted to the
      prestigious Bronx High School of Science.  It was at here that Attorney
      Hashmi joined the Bronx High School of Science Speech and Debate team where
      she soon learned that the arguments she frequently had with her parents at
      the dinner table were actually an art form called debate.  Attorney Hashmi
      excelled in Lincoln Douglas debate, frequently competing every weekend at
      local and regional tournaments along with her 110+ teammates under the
      mentorship and guidance of Richard B. Sodikow.  It was debating in high
      school that completed the puzzle and young Attorney Hashmi soon found her
      calling.  She decided then and there that she must become an attorney and
      use the power of her voice and her mind to fight for what she believes.