Rania Kisar often negotiates, but she also fights to get her way.
She argued back when the al-Qaida militants sent in an inspector to warn her against playing music during the graduation ceremony at the higher education institute that she founded in Idlib province. Then on graduation day, she invited the group.
The ceremony started with a Quranic recital, then as the students filed out in front of an audience of relatives, local officials and representatives from the militant group, Kisar played "Pomp and Circumstance" the anthem used at American graduations.