For several years, Malika has served as a spiritual care provider in acute-care trauma hospitals. As a chaplain in this context, she has provided emotional and spiritual support; crisis intervention; counseling; meditation instruction; ritual facilitation; and grief support to people of varied spiritual, religious, and cultural traditions as they navigated the existential and emotional challenges that often accompany emergencies, sickness, aging, dying, and loss. She has also worked with individuals on hospice, both through her work with Zen Hospice Project, as well as privately. During the first year of the covid-19 pandemic, at the invitation of Professor Dr. Terri Daniel, Malika co-led online grief groups with about 20 participants at a time. She has trained in, and is committed to, a contemplative model of care based in the fullness of presence.

Prior to working as a chaplain, Malika served low-income individuals and families as a legal aid attorney (a public interest litigator dedicated to civil legal justice). In this capacity, she represented and advocated for survivors of domestic violence, foster care youth, houseless individuals, and those grappling with debt, foreclosures, and fraudulent loans as they navigated layered legal and social issues. She holds a deep reverence for the many ways humans support one another and find meaning. In her free time, she writes essays and poetry; studies Buddhist and Jungian psychology; and enjoys hiking, laughing, reading, and spending time on retreat or with her partner, family and friends. She speaks French fluently and comes from a mixed-race, multi-religious, and culturally-diverse home.

Malika holds a Master of Divinity as well as Master of Arts in Social Transformation from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. She also holds a Juris Doctor from American University in Washington, D.C.  She is currently working towards a certificate in Jungian Studies from the Carl Jung Institute of Los Angeles. Her main well-spring of inspiration and insight is her 15-year meditation practice, which is ever-developing, with the patient and compassionate guidance of her teachers and sangha.