Zahra Ebrahim

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

Starting archiTEXT at 22 years old – 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, she engages a broad spectrum of the public across the country in design discourse. As an instructor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U), 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. Zahra speaks extensively across the country on engaging design, creativity, and play for impact.

Zahra was recently recognized as one of the Global Knowledge Partnership's Top 100 Young Global Social Entrepreneurs.