Laila Alawa (born 1991) is a Syrian-American entrepreneur, psychology researcher, and writer. Her work on examining gendered stereotypes in
STEM
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
led to results displaying continued issues in discrimination and prejudice against female scientists.
She is recognized by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as an innovator for her global media & entertainment company,
The Tempest.
In 2018, Alawa was named to
Forbes 30 Under 30
''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...
Lists In America and Europe.
Personal life
Alawa spent early years of her life living in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, where her father studied as an engineer, after moving from her original birthplace,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
- her mother's native land.
As a child, Alawa then moved to the United States with her five younger siblings and two parents. The Alawa family moved from
upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
to
Berkley, Massachusetts
Berkley is a New England town, town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston and east of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was 6,764 according to the 2020 census, making it the ...
following the events of
9/11
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
.
Alawa's mother was an educated woman with a degree in
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
, and chose to homeschool her children. She eventually received her American citizenship in 2015.
Alawa is a practicing
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
woman and has remarked on the struggles she has faced experiencing
Islamophobia
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...
. She has remarked, " I've grown up as a visible Muslim, with people spitting on me, yelling at me, harassing me."
Career
Alawa began her post-graduate career working on examining
socio-cognitive processing at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. Following her work at Princeton, she moved to Washington, DC, and explored
digital branding, journalism, and communications work. During that time, she also worked on Capitol Hill.
She decided to found the beta version of
The Tempest, using research principles from her time at Princeton University. She also felt that she and other diverse millennial women were not represented by mainstream media.
After she left her full-time digital branding job, Alawa began working at The Tempest full-time.
Research
Alawa studies
organizational leadership
Leadership studies is a multidisciplinary academic field of study that focuses on leadership in organizational contexts and in human life. Leadership studies has origins in the social sciences (e.g., sociology, anthropology, psychology), in humani ...
, social interactions, and stereotypes in real-world contexts. In particular, she is interested in the unconscious assessments of oneself and others, resulting in
in-group and out-group
In sociology and social psychology, an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. By contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify. People may for example ide ...
classifications.
At
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
, Alawa worked on examining the
effects of stereotypes as possible gendered obstacles to
women in science
The presence of women in science spans the earliest times of the history of science wherein they have made significant contributions. Historians with an interest in gender and science have researched the scientific endeavors and accomplishments ...
.
Later published in the
Psychology of Women Quarterly
''Psychology of Women Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the fields of psychology and women's studies, focusing on the psychological health of women. The journal's editor is Dawn M. Szymanski, PhD (University of T ...
, the study established that overlap in perceptions was due to stereotypes about the agency and communion of women, men, and scientists.
To date, the findings have been used in more than 200 studies exploring STEM and gendered representation, as well as the
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...
and
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
to seek support for
STEM education initiatives.
The Tempest
While originally focused on personal essays and editorials exploring gender and ethnic equality, the media platform gained new attention when it began incorporating perspectives of more than 1200 thought-leaders from more than 90 countries, including subjects such as the cultural stigma of abortion in South Africa and university protests against Richard Spencer. The Tempest launched internationally at South by Southwest in March 2016.
By November 2019, there were more than 8 million unique visitors each month, according to comScore.
In 2016, Alawa managed a collaboration with Voxe, a French
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
that created a system for comparing the
platforms of political candidates to help voters.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alawa, Laila
Living people
21st-century American businesspeople
Wellesley College alumni
American people of Syrian descent
1991 births
21st-century American women