
About Zainab
Zainab Salbi is the co-founder of Daughters for Earth and Women for Women International, as well as a Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics. She is the author of four books, including her bestselling memoir Between Two Worlds: Growing Up in Tyranny, Escaping the Shadow of Saddam, and the host of several shows and podcasts, including PBS #MeToo, NOW WHAT? and a limited-series podcast with Foreign Policy focused on women's leadership in protecting and restoring nature.
At age 23, she founded Women for Women International, which has helped more than half a million women survivors of war and mobilized over $240 million US dollars in financial aid to help them rebuild their lives. Her current work with Daughters for Earth focuses on mobilizing $100 million US dollars to support women-led projects that address planetary health and drive systemic change at the community and regional level.
She has received numerous honors for her work, including the TIME100 Impact Award in 2023. Oprah Winfrey also recognized her as one of 25 women changing the world in People magazine. Other publications, from Harper's Bazaar to Foreign Policy, have named her among the top 100 global thinkers and leaders making a positive impact worldwide.
Awards, doctorates, publications, and affiliations.
- TIME Earth Awards (presenter of 2025 honoree)2025
- Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award2019
- Gulf Business — Top 100 Most Powerful Arabs2019
- Arabian Business — #1, The World's Most Influential Arab Women2017
- Fortune — Most Influential Women on Twitter2014
- Barclays Women of the Year2012
- Forbes Trailblazer Award2012
- Visionary Leadership Award, International Festival of Arts & Ideas2011
- Newsweek — Top 100 Women Leaders2007
- Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize — Women for Women International (founded and led by Zainab Salbi)2006Source →
- Time Magazine Innovator of the Month2005
- Honored by President Bill Clinton at the White House1995
- Harper's Bazaar — 21st Century Heroines (nominated by President Bill Clinton)
- A Living Story of Lolita in Iraq(chapter) · in Lolita in the Afterlife (ed. Jenny Minton Quigley), Vintage / Penguin Random House2021Source →
- Paying for Zero: Global Development Finance and the Post-2015 AgendaWorld Economic Forum · with Kenny, Maina, Maxwell, McArthur, Ncube, Okolloh, Suzman, Viana, Whitbread2014Source →
- Global Women's Movements in Changing Societies.Critical Half · 7(1), 5–72009
- Why Might Women Support Religious Fundamentalism?Critical Half · 1(1), 14–192003
- Source →Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian PrizeMember of the Jury
- Source →International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)Board Member
- London School of EconomicsVisiting Professor in Practice
- Source →UNESCO / Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize JuryChair
- Source →Vital VoicesBoard Member
- Source →World Economic ForumYoung Global Leader




