Najla Faisal Al Awadhi is a former Member of Parliament (the

Federal National Council The Federal National Council (FNC) ( ar, المجلس الوطني الإتحادي, ''al-Majlis al-Watani al-Ittihadi'') of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an advisory quasi-parliamentary body in the UAE. The FNC consists of 40 members. Twen ...

) of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and a distinguished media pioneer in the Middle East. Al Awadhi is one of the first women in the history of the UAE to become a Member of the UAE Parliament and also the first Arab woman to hold a chief executive post in a state run media organization. During Al Awadhi's four-year parliament term she served on the Education, Youth, Media and Culture Committees; as well as the Parliamentary

Steering Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

established to develop a scheme to modernize the Parliament's practices and overall effectiveness. She also previously served on the Foreign Affairs, Planning, Petroleum, Mineral Wealth, Agriculture and Fishery Committees. Al Awadhi was also previously a Chief Executive at

Dubai Media Incorporated Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) is the official media organization of the government of Dubai. It was established in 2003 as a state-owned company comprising a number of print, radio and TV channels under its umbrella including: Dubai TV, '' Al B ...

(DMI). In 2011, Al Awadhi was selected as one of the ‘500 Most Influential Muslims’ by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan. She is a member of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

’s Young Global Leaders and also a member of the Global Agenda Councils of the World Economic Forum. In addition, Al Awadhi was acting chairperson for the regional board of Young Arab Leaders (YAL). Previously, she was also on the Advisory Board of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

’s Center on Public Diplomacy, and a board member with YAL's UAE Chapter and headed its Education initiative that sought to provide higher education opportunities to talented UAE nationals. Since 2007, Al Awadhi has been a regular columnist for local newspapers in the UAE. Her articles cover a range of socio-economic topics, including women's rights, democracy, social justice, cultural perspectives, and education challenges throughout the Middle East. Al Awadhi is a graduate of Harvard University's

Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Awadhi, Najla Faisal Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Harvard Kennedy School alumni Members of the Federal National Council Emirati women in politics Emirati expatriates in the United States