About Ayah
Ayah is a Journalism and Mass Communications major in the School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) with a focus in Arabic Studies; and is set to graduate in January, 2024.
Starting from a young age, Ayah has always believed she was destined to become a journalist. Given her background as an Egyptian-American, she took great interest in the ongoings of global politics- especially that of Middle Eastern affairs. Ayah made it her mission in life to change the narrative around the Middle East through her writing and showcase the region for the beauty that she sees it as. She hopes to one day work for a major news organization so that she may contribute to her community through the news.
Ayah has always been a leader. She served as President of the GW Vibes, a co-ed acappella group, and as an SMPA Ambassador at GWU. She also participated in many leadership programs throughout her primary school years. Furthermore, Ayah is a member of the Muslim Student Association and is a repeated Dean's List student, as well.
Ayah spent the first half of 2022 working on a collaborative project called FourStoried where she and seven other journalism students produced stories about four underreported communities in West Virginia and Washington, D.C. She has also worked as a Communications intern with the established not-for-profit organization Media Matters for America where she learned a great deal about the importance of the background work that goes into running a complex news organization. Her time in these experiences extended her hopes to address misinformation about marginalized groups in the media. In the summer of 2023, she completed an internship at NBC News with the TODAY Show and participated in the 10th year of the POLITICO Journalism Institute.