About Our Founders
Welcome to Hear Me Mama!
I’m Ellen Atout, founder and CEO of Hear Me Mama (اسمعيني يا ماما). I work alongside my husband, Omayya Atout: my business partner, translator, and the love of my life.
After earning my Bachelor’s in History, I moved to New York City in 2019 with a simple barista job, and the dream of seeing what God had in store for my life. One of those unexpected plans was meeting my future husband, Omayya.
Born to Palestinian-American parents, Omayya was raised in Kuwait. After high school, he moved to the U.S. to pursue Civil Engineering, and 2019 he was leading infrastructure projects like Amtrak’s track restoration at Penn Station, NYC. But while engineering paid the bills, his real ambitions were in music, entrepreneurship, and building a family.
From Songs to Stories
When Omayya and I met, we instantly bonded over our love for music. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, we launched Songlorious, creating custom songs for life’s special moments. What started as a small idea turned into something much bigger than we ever imagined— taking us to Today Show, Shark Tank, The New York Times, Billboard Magazine, and more. We built a thriving team of over 300 music artists, and are grateful to still be making music today.
But after getting married & becoming parents, our focus shifted to something just as close to our hearts: passing on Palestinian language & culture to our kids.
Why We Started Hear Me Mama
Raising our children in rural Alabama, we quickly realized how hard it was to keep them connected to their Palestinian roots—especially the dialect their father grew up with. Because of by this challenge, we began writing & illustrating simple stories in spoken dialect. That small hobby for our own family soon grew into something bigger: Hear Me Mama, a collection of bilingual books for families like ours.
Through these books, we home to preserve the beauty of the spoken Palestinian dialect and help parents share their heritage with the next generation. Omayya says, "As a dad, it's extremely important to me that the Palestinian dialect continues down my family line." He handles translations, making sure every word reflects the heart of his culture.
Our Mission
Living far from the Middle East, finding resources for teaching our kids Palestinian Arabic hasn’t been easy. With Hear Me Mama, we hope to bridge that gap for ourselves & other families, offering engaging, joyful tools to celebrate heritage and bilingual learning.
Now more than ever, preserving our culture feels urgent and important.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. We’re so excited to share it with you!