Zahra Suratwala

Zahra is a mother, writer, and active community member. She has dedicated her career to furthering women’s empowerment, through co-founding the I Speak for Myself book series, traveling on behalf of the U.S. State Department to Southeast Asia to engage in cross-cultural dialogues, and initiating women’s outreach and upliftment programs at her local mosque. Zahra is a professor of English at Elgin Community College, and has taught English in both Cairo, Egypt and in Bangkok, Thailand; she brings a global awareness to her teaching methods, as she inspires young minds to appreciate and enjoy literature and the written word.