I grew up in Carthage, Tunisia, knowing better than to speak about politics in public or even on a balcony, in case the neighbors could hear. That’s what dictatorship does: it teaches you that walls have ears.
I left for France when I was 19. There, I studied maths, physics, chemistry, and industrial science then telecommunications and computer science. I built a career in finance in Paris, and was building a quiet, comfortable life when Tunisia rose up in December 2010. I couldn’t stay on the sidelines. I took part in the revolution and went back after Ben Ali left the country one month later.
What followed was the most defining decade of my life. After a few months of soul searching and lobbying for electoral gender parity, I joined Ettakatol, a social-democratic party, ran for parliament twice in Tunisia’s first free elections, and served as Senior Advisor to two ministers (Tourism, then Finance) during the most fragile and exhilarating period of my country’s history. At the Ministry of Finance, I worked to dismantle a tax system that had been deliberately built to serve a small circle of wealthy families, and to open the books of a state that had thrived on opacity. I also championed gender equality and youth participation in the drafting of the 2014 Constitution.
When I left party politics in 2015, I founded Mobdiun – Creative Youth: a peace and civic innovation organization working with young people in marginalized communities targeted by violent extremism. We used arts, financial inclusion, and citizen participation because I had learned, in my own life, that creativity is not a luxury. It is how people survive, resist, and rebuild. Music and film carried me through my darkest moments. Acting and singing helped me feel things I had no other language for. Beauty, created in the middle of ugliness, can be an act of resistance. Mobdiun grew to a team of 40, reached over 3,000 young people, and helped shape national and regional policies on youth, peace, and security.
Some history…
After Mobdiun, I worked as a senior consultant with the World Bank, the European Union, and the UNDP : on financial sector reform, youth inclusion, public governance, and national statistics. More recently, I have focused on what I believe is the connective tissue between democracy and justice: leadership. I’ve built and directed programs at the Apolitical Foundation to train a new generation of politicians to lead differently, with and for their communities, not above them. Today, I am Senior Manager for the Tax Fairness Program at the School for Moral Ambition working to establish fairer economies and stronger democracies. I use a systemic approach to creatively and strategically fight wealth and power concentration at the global level.
With my friend Jon Alexander, I co-host “How to Save Democracy”, a podcast born from the conviction that this is one of the most urgent conversations of our time.
I have co-founded two women’s networks: Thae’ra, the Arab Women’s Network for Parity and Solidarity, and WASL, the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership and built coalitions across civil society to advocate for peace, security, and inclusion.
My work has been recognized by the Obama Foundation (inaugural Scholar, Columbia University), World Economic Forum (first Tunisian woman named a Young Global Leader), the Aspen Institute Fellow (New Voices Fellow), and the Project on Middle East Democracy (Leaders in Democracy Award).
… Organizations and recognitions
What I have learned across all of it (including the failures) is this: you cannot separate economic justice from political freedom. You need food on the table and the right to shout in the street. Both and at once. And the most radical thing any of us can do, in hard times, is find the people who share our values and refuse to let go of them.
Recent News
Nation of strangers
For our first live recording at the Conduit, Jon and I host Turkish writer and political commentator Ece Temelkuran to discuss her brave and beautiful new book, Nation Of Strangers. In a world unmaking our sense of safety and belonging, Ece…
How to Save Democracy podcast is on!
With Jon Alexander and Jo Barratt, we’re super proud to introduce How To Save Democracy, a new podcast that aims to heal society’s broken relationship with democracy. I’d love you to join us as we hold the space for the…