2023 Mentor: Zainab Azim

Zainab Azim

Founder of GIVE (Global Initiative and Vision for Education) & Research Assistant at the University of Toronto  

Region:  North America 

Keywords:  Space Education

Profile: Zainab Azim is a returning UNOOSA Space4Women Mentor dedicated to empowering young girls and women interested in pursuing space and STEAM fields. She is the world’s youngest Future Astronaut set to fly with Virgin Galactic, allowing her to fulfill her dream of exploring space while creating access to opportunities through her mentorship and advocacy work in order for young women to fulfill their own. She continues to use her platform to inspire and mobilize the global community as a speaker and panelist at international forums, including the inaugural UN World Space Forum in Austria and the Space Girls Space Women Exhibition to promote the cause of Access to Space for All through education and space-based solutions. 

She is the Founder of GIVE (Global Initiative and Vision for Education), an organization that works towards providing access to quality education in addition to innovating a holistic 21st century educational model based on neuroscience and psychology research to foster the creativity, curiosity, character, and innovation needed for solving the issues facing our planet. Zainab is also a student at the University of Toronto where she works as a Research Assistant at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and volunteers as a mentor with the Global Ideas Institute (GII) at the Munk School of Global Affairs. Along with GIVE, she is currently working at the National Education Policy Centre in the U.S. and the House of Commons of Canada to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.