The character arc of Zainab Salbi

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born in 1969 in Baghdad. Between then and now sit the founding of Women for Women International in 1993, a George Mason degree in 1996, a London School of Economics master's in 2001, a memoir in 2005, three hundred and fifteen thousand women reached and a hundred and eight million dollars distributed by 2011, her resignation in the same year, Freedom Is an Inside Job in 2018 and a Time100 Impact Award in 2023. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Zainab Salbi?

She started it at twenty three.

She was born in Baghdad in 1969 and came to the United States as a young woman. In 1993, at twenty three, she co-founded Women for Women International, which supports women who have survived war. She had not yet finished her own first degree, and took a bachelor's in sociology and women's studies at George Mason University in 1996 and a master's in development studies at the London School of Economics in 2001, alongside running it.

The numbers from her time as president are the reason this line is drawn. By the time she resigned in 2011, the organisation had helped three hundred and fifteen thousand women and distributed more than a hundred and eight million dollars in direct aid and micro-credit loans. That is eighteen years of work, begun by somebody who was twenty three and had not finished university.

Between Two Worlds, published in 2005, is her memoir of growing up in Baghdad, and it is the book that made her name outside her own field. The Other Side of War followed in 2006, collecting women's accounts of survival, If You Knew Me You Would Care in 2012 and Freedom Is an Inside Job in 2018. She received a Time100 Impact Award in 2023.

The moments

Zainab Salbi's timeline.

The 1990s

Jun 1993

An organisation at twenty three

Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty three years old, and an international organisation, before she had finished her first degree.

Jun 1996

A degree, alongside it

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A degree finished three years after founding the organisation.

The 2000s

Jun 2001

A master's at the LSE

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A second degree, while running an organisation across several countries.

4 Oct 2005

Between Two Worlds

Milestone, and it changed everything. Her memoir of a childhood in Baghdad, and the book that made her name outside her own field.

Sep 2006

The Other Side of War

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Other women's accounts, collected rather than written.

The 2010s

1 Jun 2010

Stay president, or hand it over

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: hand it over, taken, or stay at the top. The organisation carried on, and she wrote two more books and kept working on the same subject from outside it.

Mar 2011

Three hundred thousand women

Milestone, and it changed everything. Three hundred and fifteen thousand women, and a hundred and eight million dollars.

Jun 2011

She resigned

Setback, and it changed everything. Eighteen years in, she handed over the organisation she had founded at twenty three.

Sep 2012

If You Knew Me

Milestone. A book of portraits, made the year after she left.

24 Apr 2018

Freedom Is an Inside Job

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A turn inward, after twenty five years of work on other people's freedom.

The 2020s

Sep 2023

A Time100 Impact Award

Milestone, and it changed her direction. Thirty years after she founded the organisation.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is three hundred and fifteen thousand women reached and a hundred and eight million dollars moved, begun by somebody who was twenty three years old.

What she wrote

Books by Zainab Salbi

2005
Between Two Worlds
Her memoir of growing up in Baghdad, and the book that made her name outside her own field.
2006
The Other Side of War
Women's stories of survival and hope, collected rather than written.
2012
If You Knew Me You Would Care
A book of portraits, made in the year after she left the organisation she founded.
2018
Freedom Is an Inside Job
A turn inward, after twenty five years of work on other people's freedom.

Your turn

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Zainab Salbi: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Zainab Salbi's character arc?

A childhood in Baghdad, an international organisation co-founded at twenty three before she had finished her first degree, eighteen years running it, and then handing it over and writing four books.

What is Zainab Salbi's Women for Women International?

The organisation Zainab Salbi co-founded in 1993, which supports women who have survived war. During her time as president it helped three hundred and fifteen thousand women and distributed over a hundred and eight million dollars.

How old was Zainab Salbi when she founded it?

Twenty three. She co-founded Women for Women International in 1993, and completed her own bachelor's degree in sociology and women's studies at George Mason University in 1996, while she was already running the organisation.

What is Between Two Worlds by Zainab Salbi?

Her memoir, published in 2005, about growing up in Baghdad. It is the book that made her name outside her own field, and this page names it as her subject and says nothing further about it.

When did Zainab Salbi leave Women for Women?

She resigned as president in 2011, eighteen years after co-founding the organisation in 1993. She has continued to write and to speak on the same subject from outside it ever since, and published two further books.

Where did Zainab Salbi study?

At George Mason University, where she took a bachelor's degree in sociology and women's studies in 1996, and at the London School of Economics, where she took a master's in development studies in 2001.

What books has Zainab Salbi written?

Between Two Worlds in 2005, The Other Side of War in 2006, If You Knew Me You Would Care in 2012 and Freedom Is an Inside Job in 2018. She received a Time100 Impact Award in 2023.

Where does this timeline of Zainab Salbi's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Zainab Salbi isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Zainab Salbi, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Women for Women International, figures for her period as president to 2011.
Publisher records for Between Two Worlds, The Other Side of War and Freedom Is an Inside Job.