Ghazala Irshad
Ghazala Irshad is a Chicago-based journalist, educator, and mentor whose work centers multifaceted narratives from marginalized people and bridges divides by speaking across racial, religious, gender, class, and political lines. As the Copy Chief at The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news outlet that investigates criminal justice issues, she guides journalists on how to ethically cover the people and issues involved with the criminal justice system.
Once upon a time, Ghazala lived in Thailand, teaching and volunteering with refugees and orphans. She then moved to the Middle East and reported on the Arab Spring. During this time, she received her master's degree in TV and digital journalism from the American University in Cairo. She also holds a certificate in entrepreneurial journalism from the CUNY Tow-Knight Center and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Ghazala is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and sits on the auxiliary board of Humor for Hope, a nonprofit that provides trauma-informed humor therapy for underserved populations. In her free time, she enjoys strength training, cooking, dancing, photography, poetry, handicrafts, tennis, martial arts, volunteering, and playing with her niece.
