Meet Fatima Iqbal-Zubair
Meet Fatima Iqbal-Zubair
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Fatima has spent her career expanding opportunities for working families. As an immigrant, educator, and mother to a son with special needs, Fatima understands the challenges our communities face.
When she was just seven years old, as the Gulf War was beginning, Fatima’s family made the difficult decision to move to a new country and leave everything behind in search of stability and opportunity. Her father finished college and became an agricultural engineer, while her mother started a childcare service to help support her family. When her dad secured a job, they immigrated to Bergenfield, New Jersey, beginning their new chapter living out of a hotel while they searched for a home of their own.
From a young age, Fatima was always running toward something bigger than herself. Throughout her time as a student, she was consistently top of her class, excelling in science as well as in sports, and becoming a state champion in cross country. She attended Ramapo College in New Jersey on a full scholarship, where she continued to run cross country and track.
Fatima began her career working as a tutor, which sparked her love of teaching. At Harbor Teacher Prep Academy, she worked as a cross country Coach, earning the nickname “Coach Z” from her students and leading her teams to their first championships. While working full time, she earned her teaching credential and started her career at a school in South Los Angeles.
Education and Inspiring the Next Generation
As a teacher in Watts, Fatima lived the realities of underfunded schools, overcrowded classrooms, and educators stretched thin without the pay, resources, or respect they deserved. She worked to help students who didn’t know where their next meal was coming from and with with too many students who were in foster care, unhoused, or working while going to school. She taught in classrooms with kids having to share outdated supplies, families worried about the water their children were drinking, and teachers who stretched themselves thin to manage classes that were far too overcrowded. As a mother to a son with special needs, she also navigated the challenges families face when our schools don’t have the resources to provide support and services for every child.
Watching her students struggle to overcome these disadvantages every day motivated Fatima to devote her free time to fixing our local schools and building healthier and more livable communities for students and families. She co-founded and still leads a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) youth nonprofit, TeraWatts Initiative, to introduce students to new career pathways and participate in regional competitions. In the summer, TeraWatts also runs a free camp for children and partners with local organizations and community gardens.
Fatima and members of Team 6904 TeraWatts robotics were interviewed on ABC 7 News for their work.
Fatima also served on the community leadership council for Watts Rising, a community-powered partnership bringing neighbors, local organizations, and public agencies together to make Watts healthier and more affordable. On the council, she helped implement a $32 million Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) grant for the community, delivering real, tangible investments in Watts. The grant created over 300 construction and permanent jobs, built 289 new affordable homes for working families, brought in 10 new battery-electric buses to reduce pollution, planted more than 3,000 trees, installed solar panels on 300 homes to lower energy costs, and transformed over 25 blocks with pedestrian improvements and urban trails—making our neighborhoods greener, healthier, and more connected for generations to come.
Fatima works at a climate justice nonprofit and co-chaired an alliance that works with labor unions to support working families and bring better-paying, high-quality union jobs to California. She’s stood with striking workers at LAX, Starbucks, and in our public schools, and is proudly endorsed by the LA County Federation of Labor and unions like SEIU, California Teachers Association, National Union of Healthcare Workers, and AFSCME DC 36 because they know she’ll fight for working people in the State Assembly.
Fatima lives Harbor Gateway (and previously lived in Carson) with her husband of over 15 years, Fazlul, and their 12-year-old son. They both bonded over their love of science and a passion for helping young people. In her free time, Fatima likes to spend time with her family, help out her Robotics team in Watts, go on runs and to her local gym in Carson, spend time outdoors, as well as keep up with her favorite shows.