Nadine Abou Zaki is the Founder and Executive Chair of the “New Arab Woman Forum (NAWF)” and the Editor-in-Chief of “Al Hasnaa” magazine. She is the author of several publications: “De Femme à Homme” (2012), “Le Lieu et le corps / Al Makan Wal Jasad” (2010) and “Introduction aux Épîtres de la Sagesse” (2006).
Nadine Abou Zaki has PhD in Philosophy from Sorbonne-Paris IV and a BA in Political Sciences from the American University of Beirut. In 2009, she was awarded the 4th International Secular Award (Prix international de la laïcité) in Paris.
She is also a sculptor. She organized many individual exhibitions and participated in International Sculpture Symposiums. She was selected by the Lebanese Ministry of Culture as the sculptor ambassador for Beirut World Book Capital 2009. At this occasion, she conceived Le jardin du dialogue (The Garden of Dialogue), five benches in stone installed in front of the French Cultural Center in Beirut. She was also selected to represent Lebanon in sculpture at the 6th and the 5th Francophone Games- 6ièmes et 5ièmes Jeux de la Francophonie (Beirut 2009 and Niger 2005). She installed in 2009 a sculpture in front of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Beirut. Her monumental sculpture Le Voyageur (The traveller), conceived and made for the Ministry of Tourism, is exhibited in front of its premises since 2002 in Hamra, Beirut.
Mr. Hayek is the Official Spokesman & the Group P.R. & Commercial Manager at MBC Group.
Prior to joining MBC Group, he was Managing Director of MS&L in the MENA Region.
He holds a BA in Political Science & Public Administration from University of Saint Joseph and a Masters Degree from the American University of Beirut.
Mrs. Hariri is Deputy in the Lebanese Parliament and heads the Parliamentarian Committee for Education and Culture.
She is also President of the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development, National Committee for Public Schools & Saida Heritage and Environment.
She is the founder of the first gathering of Arab Woman Parliament Members & first gathering for Arab Woman Press Members.
Mrs. Hariri previously served as Minister of Education & Higher Education (2008-2009).
Mr. Abu Faour is Minister of Social Affairs in the Lebanese government.
He serves on the Leadership Council of the Progressive Socialist Party since 1999.
He was elected as Deputy in 2005and was re-elected in 2009.
Mr. Abu Faour holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the American University in Beirut.
Ms. Al Ramahi is currently presenter of Panorama talk show on Al Arabiya Channel in Dubai.
She started as a news reporter in Jordan TV and developed through her career to become a co-producer and presenter of a weekly talk show.
She also worked at Al Jazeera on different shows including news, talk shows and interviews. She hosted regional & international political leaders including late Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri, Former Prime Minister of UK Tony Blair, Queen Rania of Jordan, amongst others.
Dr. Wehbe is Professor of Philosophy and Supervisor of Masters and PhD thesis at the Lebanese University.
He is also Editorial Consultant for Al-Hasnaa Magazine and a founding member of the Arab Commission for Human Rights.
He wrote numerous philosophical research papers and articles on the possibility of philosophizing in Arabic, philosophical terminology in Arabic, the need for metaphysics and the critic of political need.
He translated into Arabic Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, Hume’s Enquiry concerning Human Understanding and Husserl’s Logical Investigations.
Dr. Wehbe holds a PH.D. in Literature from Sorbonne University, Paris.
Ms. Kamel is an Egyptian television anchor, activist, and politician.Born in Cairo, she is a long time activist for human rights, and has thus decided to run for presidency in upcoming elections in Egypt.
She was appointed news reader at the National Egyptian Radio and Television union. However she soon decided to refrain from reading the government news, in a pronounced objection to the outrageous discrepancy between the news she read to the public, and the painful reality.
She was a daring journalist, and continued her defiance of the ruling government by broadcasting “Night confessions", a radio program which addressed problems of Egyptian society, and which recorded the highest listening rates in the history of Egyptian radio broadcasting. The program was suspended six years later.
Being a relentless activist for human rights, Ms. Kamel founded "Shayfeen.com" movement (we are watching you), which main mission was to address and fight government corruption, and support those who were persecuted for their struggle against this corruption. She also founded "Egyptians against corruption", in support of and to reward annually, fighters of corruption. The organization is still active to this date.
Dr. Farida Allaghi is a Libyan human rights activist.
She has worked closely as an advisor on human development, policy formulations, strategic planning, fundraising, networking, and capacity building issues in several United Nations organizations, as well as government organizations and private companies in order to promote and support their contributions to human development needs in the Arab World.
She holds a Masters and a Doctorate degree in Sociology (Social Planning and Development) from Colorado State University-USA.
Ms. Hamza is President of the Foundation for the Future (FFF), an independent, international nonprofit organization established in 2005 in Jordan.
She previously served as the Executive Director of the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), a regional center based in Tunisia and funded by UNDP, UNFPA and IPPF.
She has also worked as an Expert in the Arab League for 10 years.
In November 2011 the Arab-European Center of Human Rights and International Law honored Mrs. Hamza through the “Arab Human Rights Award” for her dedicated efforts towards enhancing the principles of human rights.
Ms. Hamza holds an M.S in Political Science from University Paris VIII - Sorbonne, Paris.
Mr. Saghieh is political editor of the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, and serves on the editorial board of the quarterly publication “Kalamon”.
Mr. Saghieh has previously worked at As-Safir Newspaper, and has published several books on politics and Arab political culture.
Ms. Joya is an activist, writer and a former politician from Afghanistan.
She served as a Parliamentarian in the National Assembly of Afghanistan from 2005 until early 2007, after being dismissed for publicly denouncing the presence of what she considered to be warlords and war criminals in the Afghan parliament.
Time magazine placed her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and was listed in the Foreign Policy Magazine annual list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.
Ms. Nasr is founder of Bridges Media Consulting; a firm that helps businesses and media organizations synchronize traditional and digital strategies.
She is CNN’s former Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs and Co-Creator of the network’s digital international newsgathering strategy.
During her 20-year tenure at CNN, she served in several high profile positions including Executive Producer of Ted Turner’s brainchild CNN World Report and Anchor of CNN International's World News.
Prior to joining CNN, Ms. Nasr was a war correspondent for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
Ms. Fraisse is a Philosopher and Director of Research for the national Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France.
She is a former French interministerial delegate for Women’s rights and a former European MP.
She has worked on topics of History and Philosophy of Gender Equality, from an epistemological and political point of view, focusing on 3 main themes: Genealogy of Democracy, Concepts of Emancipation and Philosophical Problem of sexual/gender difference.
Her latest publications include Le Mélange des sexes (2006); Du consentement (2007); Le Privilège de Simone de Beauvoir (2008); L’Europe des idées, chroniques (2008); A côté du genre, sexe et philosophie de l’égalité (2010) and La fabrique du féminisme, textes et entretiens (2012, to be published soon).
Mr. Zabbal is a philosopher and translator. He joined the “Institut du Monde Arab” in Paris in 1986.
He is also chief editor of the cultural journal “Qantara”.
One of his main fields of interest is relations between the Western world and Islamic countries and recently contributed to a collective work that focuses on these relations: Après l’orientalisme. L’Orient créé par l’Orient, Karthala Publications, 2011.
Ms. Damon is CNN's Beirut correspondent covering stories from Lebanon and the surrounding region.
She is an award-winning journalist who continues to report from Baghdad on assignment throughout the year.
Ms. Damon was the first television reporter allowed inside the Khamiya women’s prison and reported on the desperate situation of the women behind bars.
Before joining CNN, she spent three years covering Iraq and the Middle East as a freelance producer for various news organizations including Feature Story News (PBS) and CNN.
Ms. Damon graduated with honors from Skidmore College in New York with a double major in French and Biology and a minor in International Affairs.
Mr. Mahfoud is a journalist and web content manager at Al-Hayat pan-Arab daily.
He has participated in several theatrical plays as director, actor and conceptor.
Ms. Al Bassam is currently Head of News and Political Programs at Al-jadeed TV.
She began her career at Sawt al Shaab Radio Station, where she successively served as Editor for the Lebanese Political News; Official Reporter; Head of Local Political News Department and Head of News Editor.
She was also contractual editor for Reuters News agency and BBC World News.
Ms. Al Bassam published her first two books “WikiLeaks Background” and “Truth Leaks” (in Arabic) in 2011.
Ms. Al-Sakkaf is Editor in Chief of the Yemen Times.
In 2003, she joined Oxfam-GB and worked in the Humanitarian Program as well as in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper while being the media spokesperson of the organization in Yemen.
She has represented Yemen on public platforms internationally and spoke on issues of media, gender, development and politics.
Ms. Al-Sakkaf received the first Gebran Tueni Award 2006 for professional media, from the World Association of Newspapers and An-Nahar Newspaper in Lebanon.
Ms. Serhan is Microsoft Country Manager, Lebanon and NEPA Indirect Markets (Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and the Palestinian Authorities).
She started her career with Libancell, where she headed the Financial Planning and Budgeting unit.
She recently received one of the highest achievement awards in Microsoft for her outstanding contributions and is member of the Platinum Club of the Circle of Excellence Awards.
Ms. Serhan holds a BA and MBA in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut.
Ms. Dhaif is a Bahraini journalist, active in the Bahraini resistance campaign.
She has written in various newspapers in the Persian Gulf region, but as an oppositionist, she has been banned from writing since the beginning of the revolution in Bahrain.
She is also a human rights activist and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Bahraini Journalists Association for three consecutive rounds.
She gained wide recognition after she presented a program discussing taboo issues such as poverty, sadism, prostitution, corruption, and inequality, on Al-Rai, a private Kuwaiti television channel.
Ms. Dhaif has won several awards including: Best Investigative Report in 2004, the Excellence Award in Journalism in 2008 and was honored as best writer by the Women's Union in the International Women's Day in 2009.
Mr. Karam is a famous talk show host who is best known for his TV programs “Souar”, “Maraya” and “Waraa Al Wojoh” which hosted numerous celebrities including the Dalai Lama, Noor Al Hussein, Kofi Annan, Luciano Pavarotti & many others.
He founded RK Productions, a production and consulting company with production expertise, business and marketing strategies, helping clients target their audience and deliver their messages.
In 2008, he conceived “TAKREEM”, an exceptional initiative aiming at celebrating Arab achievements around the globe.
He has published two main books: “Privileged Encounters” & “The Lebanese Paris”.
Mr. Karam currently serves on the board of several academic institutions, associations and NGOs.
Ms. Salama is a writer, journalist and presenter.
She is currently one of the four female hostesses of Kalam Nawem talk show on MBC.
She is also Editor for Sayidaty, Kolelnas, Adam and Samra magazines and Asharq Al Awsat daily newspaper.
Ms. Salama holds a BA in English literature & a Master’s degree in literary criticism.
Ms. Khazindar is the first woman and first Saudi to be appointed Director General of the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.
She is also president and founding member of “Al-Mansouria Foundation for Culture and Creativity”, a Saudi non-profit cultural foundation that aims to promote Saudi and Arab contemporary art.
Prior to becoming Director General she was curator of contemporary art and photography at the institute, responsible for the IMA’s permanent art collection.
She was recently appointed co-curator of the first Saudi pavilion in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale.
Ms. Fadel is portfolio manager at Comgest, and president of the Beirut office that services the Middle East.
She previously worked at Merrill Lynch and ranked number 1 and number 3 over 50 European analysts.
She has founded numerous NGOs that cater to the advancement and development of the youth, including the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan-Arab region
Ms. Fadel is also Founder and Chair of the first “carfree” event in the Middle East which aims at increasing awareness about the environment.
Ms. Kamel is an Egyptian television anchor, activist, and politician.Born in Cairo, she is a long time activist for human rights, and has thus decided to run for presidency in upcoming elections in Egypt.
She was appointed news reader at the National Egyptian Radio and Television union. However she soon decided to refrain from reading the government news, in a pronounced objection to the outrageous discrepancy between the news she read to the public, and the painful reality.
She was a daring journalist, and continued her defiance of the ruling government by broadcasting “Night confessions", a radio program which addressed problems of Egyptian society, and which recorded the highest listening rates in the history of Egyptian radio broadcasting. The program was suspended six years later.
Being a relentless activist for human rights, Ms. Kamel founded "Shayfeen.com" movement (we are watching you), which main mission was to address and fight government corruption, and support those who were persecuted for their struggle against this corruption. She also founded "Egyptians against corruption", in support of and to reward annually, fighters of corruption. The organization is still active to this date.
Ms. Al Ansari is founder and chairperson for Qatariat T&D holding company, and strategic program planning manager in Qatar Telecom.
She is a board member of Qatari Business Women Forum and Arab International Women’s Forum.
Ms. Al Ansari was named “Business Women of the Year 2011” by Arabian Business Magazine and rated 67 among the 100 most powerful women in the Middle East in 2011.
She holds a Masters Degree in Business Management, Qatar University, and a Masters Degree in Strategic Planning, HR, American University in Cairo.
Ms. Nasr is founder of Bridges Media Consulting; a firm that helps businesses and media organizations synchronize traditional and digital strategies.
She is CNN’s former Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs and Co-Creator of the network’s digital international newsgathering strategy.
During her 20-year tenure at CNN, she served in several high profile positions including Executive Producer of Ted Turner’s brainchild CNN World Report and Anchor of CNN International's World News.
Prior to joining CNN, Ms. Nasr was a war correspondent for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
Ms. Rouhana is Director of KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation, and founding member of the organization, dedicated to help put a stop to women and children exploitation and all kinds of violence based on gender.
One of her major achievements is launching and managing the drafting of laws and campaigns to protect women from family violence.
She is a vehement supporter of women and children, continuously promoting the need to enact new laws and amend and implement fair policies that ensure women and children's rights.
Ms. Rouhana is a winner of the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage award.
Moderator: Ms. Rana Ghandour Salhab, Partner in Deloitte Middle East
Panelists:
Moderator: Mr. Fadi El Halabi, Psychotherapist-Counselor for couples, TV talk show host, Lebanon
Panelists:
In the presence of H.E Mr. Wael Abou Faour and H.E Mrs. Bahiya Hariri
(Order as per number of votes)Ms. Khazindar is the first woman and first Saudi to be appointed Director General of the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.
She is also president and founding member of “Al-Mansouria Foundation for Culture and Creativity”, a Saudi non-profit cultural foundation that aims to promote Saudi and Arab contemporary art.
Prior to becoming Director General she was curator of contemporary art and photography at the institute, responsible for the IMA’s permanent art collection.
She was recently appointed co-curator of the first Saudi pavilion in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale.
Ms. Fadel is portfolio manager at Comgest, and president of the Beirut office that services the Middle East.
She previously worked at Merrill Lynch and ranked number 1 and number 3 over 50 European analysts.
She has founded numerous NGOs that cater to the advancement and development of the youth, including the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan-Arab region
Ms. Fadel is also Founder and Chair of the first “carfree” event in the Middle East which aims at increasing awareness about the environment.
Ms. Nasr is founder of Bridges Media Consulting; a firm that helps businesses and media organizations synchronize traditional and digital strategies.
She is CNN’s former Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs and Co-Creator of the network’s digital international newsgathering strategy.
During her 20-year tenure at CNN, she served in several high profile positions including Executive Producer of Ted Turner’s brainchild CNN World Report and Anchor of CNN International's World News.
Prior to joining CNN, Ms. Nasr was a war correspondent for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr. Jaber is Poet, Playwright and Journalist. In addition, He is founder and owner of “Why Production” company, specializing in documentaries and other film genres.
He is a also Scriptwriter and TV programmer at MBC.
His Poetry, Literary and Theatre publications include “As if I am a Divorced Woman”, “For Adults Only”, “Capitals of error”, “My Country”, “Smile you are Lebanese”, “Yehya Jaber…Grab Strongly the Book” (in Arabic).
Mr. Jaber served as an editor and Chief-Editor of several Arabic magazines and newspapers such as Al-Hasnaa magazine, As-Safir daily and the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Anbaa.
Ms. Haddad is a renowned Lebanese poet, translator and journalist. She is also a performer and a collage artist.
She currently is in charge of the cultural page in Annahar Newspaper & Chief Editor of “Jasad” Magazine.
Ms. Haddad has written books in different languages, and has also published several works of translation, including an anthology of Lebanese modern poetry in Spanish, published in Spain and several Latin American countries.
She was awarded the Arab Press Prize in 2006 & has been chosen as one of the 39 most interesting Arab writers under 39.
Ms. Al Bishr is a Saudi writer and lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at King Saud University.
She previously wrote in Al Riyadh and the Middle East Newspapers and currently writes in Al-Hayat Newspaper.
Ms. Al Bishr holds a Masters degree in Social Science from King Saud University and PH.D. from American University of Beirut
Ms. Ali is a musician, composer, & writer.
She has been performing on the Cairo music scene for 12 years, singing and writing music in a variety of genres, from jazz, blues, folk and funk to improvised electronic.
Ms. Ali is studying for a Masters degree in Middle East Studies at the American University, Cairo.
Moderator: Ms. Mona Merhi, Founder and Program Director at Sahbeh Readership Initiative, Writer, Producer and Director, Lebanon
Projections: This session will include selections from films featuring the work of Arab filmmakers inspired by the revolutions
Ms. Merhi is Founder and Program Director of Sahbeh Readership Initiative.
She is a writer and has published two books to date: "Festivity under Water - Short Plays" and "Out of service - short stories/flip book".
She has also worked in film and TV production; she directed many short films, participated in film festivals and was the executive producer of “TAWASOL" program on Future TV News.
She has received lately the 2012 Ashoka fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship, which will allow her to dedicate herself to Sahbeh readership initiative for one year.
Ms. Merhi has been an activist on issues related to “citizenship” since the "Arab Spring” uprisings.
Mr. Jarjoura is a Journalist & Film Critic and editor of the cinema affairs section in the Lebanese daily Assafir and the cinema section in the Emirati weekly magazine Zahrat Al Khalij.
He is also editor of the “Abou Dhabi International Film Festival” website.
Mr. Jarjoura writes cinema articles in the monthly Kuwaiti magazine Al Arabi. His work as an author includes “The 9/11’s crime on the Big Screen” and “Incomplete Biography: a Research in the History of Lebanese Cinema”.
Mr. Abdelsayed is a movie director and scriptwriter. He is also a member of the cinema committee in the High Culture Council.
He started his career as a documentary film maker, and has worked for the National Cinema Center.
Mr. AbdelSayed graduated from the Cinema Institute in Cairo.
Mr. Der Haroutiounian is a Lebanese TV Personality, Television Host and a Producer, best known for his successful award winning talk shows, “Maestro”, “Shako Mako”, “Al Arrab”, and “Absher”.
He holds a BSc in Pre-medics/Biology from the American University of Beirut, a BA in Journalism from the Notre Dame University Lebanon/RadioTv, and a Teaching Diploma from Cambridge. He also received his transcript of grades from the European Graduate School in Switzerland where I worked on another MA degree in the Philosophy of communication in 2011.
Mr. Der Haroutiounian has been an instructor of Communication Skills at various American Universities for 11 years now.
Mr. Lahham is an actor, director and screenplay writer for all his works..
His early beginning as an actor was through starring a mini-series called Sahret Dimashq (Damascus Evening) which featured on the Syrian Television.
He studied chemistry at Damascus University, qualifying him for a job as an instructor at the Chemistry Department.
Mr. Laham was greatly influenced by the surrounding political environment, which had a great impact on his career, transforming it from that of a comedian, into a political satirist.
Mr. Youssef is an Egyptian director and film writer. He started his career as an assistant director & assisted Mr. Youssef Chahine on his hit film Al-Maseer.
In 2001, he launched his first film Al-Asefa (The Storm), which received the Silver Pyramid Award at the Cairo Film Festival.
He wrote and directed many films, some of which are considered among the best Egyptian films of the last few years such as "El Rayes Omar Harb" & "Dokkan Shehata".
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