Laila Alawa

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Laila Alawa
Laila Alawa crop.jpg
Born (1991-08-17) 17 August 1991 (age 33)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Wellesley College
OccupationFounder & CEO of The Tempest
SpouseAfif Rahman
Website www.lailaalawa.com

Laila Alawa (born 1991) is a Syrian-American entrepreneur, psychology researcher, and writer. Her work on examining gendered stereotypes in STEM led to results displaying continued issues in discrimination and prejudice against female scientists. [1] [2] [3] She is recognized by The New York Times as an innovator for her global media & entertainment company, The Tempest. [4] [5] In 2018, Alawa was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Lists In America and Europe. [6] [7]

Contents

Personal life

Alawa spent early years of her life living in Japan, where her father studied as an engineer, after moving from her original birthplace, Denmark - her mother's native land. [8] [9] As a child, Alawa then moved to the United States with her five younger siblings and two parents. The Alawa family moved from upstate New York to Berkley, Massachusetts following the events of 9/11. [8] Alawa's mother was an educated woman with a degree in pedagogy, and chose to homeschool her children. She eventually received her American citizenship in 2015. [10]

Alawa is a practicing Muslim woman and has remarked on the struggles she has faced experiencing Islamophobia. She has remarked, " I've grown up as a visible Muslim, with people spitting on me, yelling at me, harassing me." [9]

Career

Alawa began her post-graduate career working on examining socio-cognitive processing at Princeton University. [11] Following her work at Princeton, she moved to Washington, DC, and explored digital branding, journalism, and communications work. During that time, she also worked on Capitol Hill. [12]

She decided to found the beta version of The Tempest, using research principles from her time at Princeton University. [13] She also felt that she and other diverse millennial women were not represented by mainstream media. [4] [14] After she left her full-time digital branding job, Alawa began working at The Tempest full-time. [15]

Research

Alawa studies organizational leadership, social interactions, and stereotypes in real-world contexts. In particular, she is interested in the unconscious assessments of oneself and others, resulting in in-group and out-group classifications.

At Wellesley College, Alawa worked on examining the effects of stereotypes as possible gendered obstacles to women in science. [16] [17]

Later published in the Psychology of Women Quarterly, the study established that overlap in perceptions was due to stereotypes about the agency and communion of women, men, and scientists. [2] [18]

To date, the findings have been used in more than 200 studies exploring STEM and gendered representation, as well as the World Bank Group and Parliament of the United Kingdom to seek support for STEM education initiatives. [2] [3]

The Tempest

While originally focused on personal essays and editorials exploring gender and ethnic equality, the media platform gained new attention when it began incorporating perspectives of more than 1200 thought-leaders from more than 90 countries, including subjects such as the cultural stigma of abortion in South Africa [19] and university protests against Richard Spencer. [20] The Tempest launched internationally at South by Southwest in March 2016. [21]

By November 2019, there were more than 8 million unique visitors each month, according to comScore. [22] [23]

In 2016, Alawa managed a collaboration with Voxe, a French NGO that created a system for comparing the platforms of political candidates to help voters. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misogyny</span> Prejudice against, or hatred of, women

Misogyny is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practised for thousands of years. It is reflected in art, literature, human societal structure, historical events, mythology, philosophy, and religion worldwide.

A gender role, or sex role, is a set of socially accepted behaviors and attitudes deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity, although there are exceptions and variations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hijab</span> Islamic head covering for women

In modern usage, hijab generally refers to variety of head coverings conventionally worn by many Muslim women as an expression of faith. Similar to the tichel or snood worn by Orthodox Jewish women, certain headcoverings worn by some Christian women, such as the mantilla, apostolnik and wimple, and the dupatta favored by many Hindu and Sikh women, the hijab comes in various forms. Often, it specifically describes a scarf that is wrapped around the head, covering the hair, neck, and ears while leaving the face visible. The use of the hijab has grown globally since the 1970s, with many Muslims viewing it as a symbol of modesty and faith; it is also worn as a form of adornment. There is consensus among Islamic religious scholars that covering the head is either required or preferred. In practice, most Muslim women choose to wear it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laila Ali</span> American boxer (born 1977)

Laila Amaria Ali is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF and IBA female super middleweight titles, and the IWBF light heavyweight title. Ali is widely regarded by many within the sport as one of the greatest female professional boxers of all time. She is the daughter of boxer Muhammad Ali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amina Wadud</span> American Islamic scholar (born 1952)

Amina Wadud is an American Muslim theologian. Wadud serves as visiting professor at 4 Consortium for Religious Studies and was also a visiting scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry. Wadud has written extensively on the role of women in Islam.

Phyllis Chesler is an American writer, psychotherapist, and professor emerita of psychology and women's studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY). She is a renowned second-wave feminist psychologist and the author of 18 books, including the best-sellers Women and Madness (1972), With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979), and An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir (2013). Chesler has written extensively about topics such as gender, mental illness, divorce and child custody, surrogacy, second-wave feminism, pornography, prostitution, incest, and violence against women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in science</span> Contributions of women to the field of science

The presence of women in science spans the earliest times of the history of science wherein they have made significant contributions. Historians with an interest in gender and science have researched the scientific endeavors and accomplishments of women, the barriers they have faced, and the strategies implemented to have their work peer-reviewed and accepted in major scientific journals and other publications. The historical, critical, and sociological study of these issues has become an academic discipline in its own right.

The gender binary is the classification of gender into two distinct forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system, cultural belief, or both simultaneously. Most cultures use a gender binary, having two genders.

Susan Tufts Fiske is an American psychologist who serves as the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs in the Department of Psychology at Princeton University. She is a social psychologist known for her work on social cognition, stereotypes, and prejudice. Fiske leads the Intergroup Relations, Social Cognition, and Social Neuroscience Lab at Princeton University. Her theoretical contributions include the development of the stereotype content model, ambivalent sexism theory, power as control theory, and the continuum model of impression formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Kuwait</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in STEM fields</span> Female participants in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

Many scholars and policymakers have noted that the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have remained predominantly male with historically low participation among women since the origins of these fields in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment.

The angry black woman stereotype is a racial stereotype of Black American women as pugnacious, poorly mannered, and aggressive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Hijab Day</span> Annual awareness event on 1 February

World Hijab Day is an annual event founded by Nazma Khan in 2013, taking place on 1 February each year in 140 countries worldwide. Its stated purpose is to encourage women of all religions and backgrounds to wear and experience the hijab for a day and to educate and spread awareness on why hijab is worn. Nazma Khan said her goal was also to normalize hijab wearing.

Gender plays a role in mass media and is represented within media platforms. These platforms are not limited to film, radio, television, advertisement, social media, and video games. Initiatives and resources exist to promote gender equality and reinforce women's empowerment in the media industry and representations. For example, UNESCO, in cooperation with the International Federation of Journalists, elaborated the Gender-sensitive Indicators for Media contributing to gender equality and women's empowerment in all forms of media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah-Jane Leslie</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Nassib Njeim</span> Lebanese actress and beauty queen

Nadine Nassib Njeim is a Lebanese actress and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Lebanon 2004. She represented Lebanon at Miss Universe 2005 in Thailand.

Deborah A. Prentice is an American scholar of psychology and university administrator. She serves as the vice-chancellor at the University of Cambridge. She previously served as provost at Princeton University and Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Tempest (media company)</span> Internet media and entertainment company

The Tempest was an American multinational digital media and entertainment company for women and non-binary individuals that was founded in 2016 by Laila Alawa. Their purpose was to serve as "the destination for diverse women to share, inspire, and celebrate life through storytelling, experiences, and a global community." It was owned by The Tempest, Inc. The site has been inactive since October 2021 and the domain is inoperable.

Sapna Cheryan is an American social psychologist. She is a Full professor of social psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington.

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