Lydia Bassaly

Lydia Bassaly was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. At the age of 11, Lydia and her family moved to the United States where she learned to adapt to a new culture and environment. Having grown up as a minority Christian in Egypt, and having been the only Egyptian at her school in the United States, Lydia quickly learned what it means to stand out unintentionally. Through the years, Lydia grew a passion for human rights and in 2011 she had the privilege of participating during the January 25th Egyptian Revolution. Since then, Lydia has completed her Master’s in International Affairs at Columbia University and currently works at NaTakallam, an award-winning social enterprise that connects refugees/displaced persons to remote work opportunities in the language sector. After living In the U.S for 15 years, Lydia made the choice to return to Egypt in 2017 in hopes to work towards bettering her community there.