Zahra

Zahra is the Founder  and Principal of the architecture and design think tank, archiTEXT.  Born in Kenya, raised in West Vancouver, and educated at McGill University in Montreal, Zahra has spent the last two years serving as Innovator in Residence at Canada's National Design Museum, the Design Exchange.

Ebrahim brings together diverse groups to tackle the intersections of architecture and design with social change, the environment, politics, economics, equality, health, and pop culture. Using  various methods ranging from curation to public engagement to conceptual art to engage a broad spectrum of the public in design discourse.  As the youngest professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), she teaches in the Think Tank Program, getting the next generation of designers asking complex questions of themselves and the world around them. She is also the co-lead on the Community. Design. Initiative. a legacy project engaging some of Canada's most marginalized youth in architecture and design in Toronto's priority neighborhoods.  

In her spare time, Ebrahim is the co-Executive Producer on We're Up Here: A Fresh Look at Canadian Design set for production in Fall 2010, and also volunteers as the Co-Chair of Outreach for Couchiching Institute of Public Affairs and as the Chair of Events for Architecture for Humanity (Toronto Chapter). She also sits on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO Youth Advisory Group, the ReThink Breast Cancer Breastfest Film Festival Committee, and contributes regularly to OnSite Review and The Mark. In the winter, she volunteers with the Ontario Track 3 Association, teaching children and youth with disabilities to snowboard.  Zahra was recently recognized as one of the Global Knowledge Partnership's Top 100 Young Global Social Entrepreneurs.

zahra@architextinc.com