Awista A. Email & Phone Number

Awista Ayub is the Director of the Fellows Program at New America. The Fellows Program invests in thinkers—journalists, scholars, filmmakers, and public policy analysts—who offer inventive perspectives on the major challenges facing our society. In addition to directing the program, she managed several special projects, including developing an online magazine focused on resilience, and designing and implementing two international fellowships (the India-U.S. Exchange and the Afghanistan Observatory).Her work spans many sectors, from youth leadership, peace and conflict resolution, international development, and the management of fellowships. Formerly, Awista was Director of South Asia Programs with Seeds of Peace, an organization that inspires and supports a new generation of young leaders in communities divided by conflict. For this role, she was based in Mumbai, India, and frequently traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to develop programs that supported youth leaders in addressing the regional conflict. This role entailed overseeing the development of a curriculum and designing local programs attended by hundreds of students in the region.In 2004, she founded Afghanistan’s first girls’ soccer team, a program featured on ESPN as a recipient of the 2006 ESPY's Arthur Ashe Courage Award. She is a published author with the release of Kabul Girls Soccer Club (Hyperion) in 2009, and, in addition, she published several book chapters and journal articles on issues related to Muslim women in sports. She served as the Education & Health Officer with the Embassy of Afghanistan.She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Delaware and a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry from the University of Rochester.