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Meet Zaina

Zaina Adamu is an award-winning writer who currently serves as the Deputy Director of Communications for the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. In 2018, she founded Ghana Girl Rising, a nonprofit organization aimed at improving education access for young women in low-income communities. Before then, she was a journalist at CNN, covering the 2012 and 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

During her six-year tenure at CNN, she won a Peabody Award for her contribution to the network’s reporting of the Arab Spring and was selected as a Power 30 Under 30 honoree. As news editor for The Spokesman, she won an Excellence Award for her breaking news coverage of President Barack Obama’s 2008 win. In 2022, she was appointed by the European Council on Foreign Relations to the Panel of Experts for Africa where she served as a policy consultant on foreign affairs in Ghana.

Zaina served as the first Black and first female president of Harvard Alumni for Global Development from 2023-2026. She is the author of 20,000 Words: A Guide to Finding Calm in a Cluttered World and is a proud alumna of Morgan State University and Harvard.

 

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Distinctions & Affiliations

2025 | Member | Harvard Club of Washington, DC

2024 | Campaign Volunteer | Harris for President

2024 | Priority Staff Member | Congressional Black Associates

2024 | Certification | Professional Leadership Development Program | Congressional Staff Academy

2023 | President | Harvard Alumni for Global Development

2023 | Awardee | Global Women Leadership Summit and Honors

2023 | Fellow | Policy Initiative for Economic Development

2023 | Co-Editor-in-Chief | Thrēo

2023 | Citizen Liaison Volunteer (CLV) | U.S. Embassy Ghana 

2022 | Finalist | Ghana 40 Under 40 Awards

2022 | Scholarship Recipient | The OpEd Project

2022 | Country Director of Communications & Advisory Member | G-100 – Ghana Country Club

2022 | Global Partnerships Chairperson | Harvard W3D: Women in Defense, Diplomacy and Development

2021 | Master of International Education Policy | Harvard University

2021 | Co-Founder | Harvard Gender Collective

2019 | Finalist | 21st Century Business Entrepreneur of the Year | The Black Entrepreneur Awards

2018 | Founder | Ghana Girl Rising

2018 | Guest Lecturer | Ghana Institute of Journalism

2017 | Member | CNN Toastmasters

2017 | Student | Atlanta Institute of Language | French

2016 | Guest Lecturer | Clark Atlanta University

2015 | Executive Board of Directors | ColorComm

2014 | Board Advisor | Borgen Project

2013 | Honoree | Power 30 Under 30

2013 | Recipient | Ghana Council of Georgia Awards

2012 | Recipient | CNN Image+Sound Rewards and Recognition Award

2012 | Recipient (shared) | Peabody Awards

2009 | Bachelor of Arts | English & Journalism | Morgan State University

2009 | Excellence Award winner for breaking news coverage | The Spokesman

2008 | Vice President | The English Society

2008 | News Editor | The Spokesman

2008 | Certified Gemologist | Gemological Institute of America

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