Nina Ansary

Dr. Nina Ansary is an internationally recognized Iranian-American historian, award-winning author and women's rights advocate. As a UN Women Global Champion for Innovation and Visiting Fellow at The London School of Economics Centre for Women, Peace & Security, she regularly presents her work on women's rights and the impact of institutionalized gender discrimination at major universities and conferences in the US and UK, including Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard, as well as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington D.C, the US Senate Human Rights Caucus, and the World Affairs Councils of America. Ansary is the author of two books: Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality (Revela Press/March 2020) included in Smithsonian Magazine's "Books of the Week" and listed by Buzzfeed as "17 Brilliant Books That You Won't Struggle to Finish"; and Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran (Revela Press/2015), which garnered numerous awards - including the 2016 International Book Award in "Women's Issues." She is the recipient of the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the 2019 Iranian American Women Foundation (IAWF) Women of Influence Award, and the 2018 Trailblazer Award from Barnard College, Columbia University. Ansary has also been recognized as one of "14 Privileged Women to Change the World" by Marie Claire, and selected as one of "6 Women Who Build Bridges Not Walls" by The New York Times. She has appeared on Fox News, Larry King, and the BBC, as well as a variety of top publications, including CNN.com, Newsweek, Smithsonian Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles magazine, Glamour, Elle, Teen Vogue and the Yale Journal of International Affairs. Dr. Ansary holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies and a PhD in History from Columbia University. She serves on the International Advisory Board of The Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum, the Board of Directors of the Diplomacy Center Foundation and the New York-based organization The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), the Board of Trustees at Barnard College (Columbia University), and the Iranian American Women Foundation (IAWF). Connect with Nina on Twitter (@drninaansary), Instagram (@ninaansary), Facebook (facebook.com/ninaansary).