Rahilla Zafar
Rahilla Zafar is a Managing Director at ConsenSys currently based in Los Angeles. Early on at ConsenSys, she helped open the Middle East market where the company is currently the official blockchain advisor to the city of Dubai. She focuses on global smart city initiatives and business development. Previously Rahilla was contracted by Cisco Systems to research, co-author, and edit The Internet of Women: Accelerating Culture Change. She travelled to over seven countries conducting field research including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, and the United Arab Emirates. She also helped source and edit content for this book working with contributors from over 30 countries.
Rahilla previously was based in Afghanistan and
Pakistan working for the International Organization for Migration, the NATO-led
mission, and government initiatives focused on humanitarian outreach. She holds
two graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the London School
of Economics and received her undergraduate degree from DePaul University.
While a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, Rahilla co-
authored Arab Women Rising with the award-winning journalist Nafeesa Syeed
highlighting women entrepreneurs from across the Middle East published by
Knowledge@Wharton (K@W). She’s been a contributor to K@W with a longtime focus
on innovative technologies and its impact on women in particular. She also was
a contributing writer for K@W interviewing participants and writing pieces for
the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative. She contributes
to numerous publications from theFinancial Times to
Quartz.