Nazenin Ansari
Managing Editor, Kayhan-London and Kayhan-Life
Watch Ms. Ansari on “Iranian Women’s Movement with Masih Alinejad” at The Iran Conference, here.
Nazenin Ansari is the Publisher and Managing Editor of two independent media outlets focusing on Iran, Kayhan London and Kayhan Life.
Kayhan-London and its sister publication Kayhan-Life are London-based media outlets focusing on Iran and its presence on the international scene. The word “Kayhan” means “universe” in Persian, and that embodies our editorial philosophy: we are dedicated to diverse, impartial reporting and committed to freedom of the press, and freedom from persecution.
The publication was launched as a weekly in London in the early 1980s; although its history goes back to early 1940s in Iran. We are considered the oldest intellectual home for the Iranian expatriate community. We provide original reporting and essential coverage of life inside Iran. We offer a rich mix of political, social, environmental, economic, and cultural coverage. Previews, features, and interviews on our pages focus on key Iranian personalities and newsmakers around the world: business leaders and award-winning scientists, but also artists, authors, and actors.
Nazenin started her career in journalism at ABC News Radio in Washington D.C. and has been a contributor to BBC World’s Dateline London. She was the executive producer and moderator of a news discussion program on Manoto Television called “This Week”. She was also a Producer/Special London Correspondent for Voice of America.
Nazenin is also the founding Trustee of Persia Educational Foundation, which advances education and learning in Iran. Persia’s bespoke Character and Civic Education training was the first education project of its kind developed to benefit Iranian-British children raised in the UK.
In 2017 Persia gathered more than 300 of the most accomplished Iranian women leaders from the world of media, finance, politics, arts, and well-being to the first-ever Iranian Women’s Leadership Conference in London and Iranian American Women’s Foundation. That same year the foundation set up the Mirzakhani Scholarship for Women in 2017 to support the education of women of Iranian descent enrolled in a Master of Science or final year of a Doctorate program studying STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics.) In 2022, Persia launched the Abdolreza Ansari Scholarship, designed to give a helping hand to those dedicated to a life in public service and human rights.
Nazenin is also the Trustee of the Foreign Press Association in London, the first and oldest association of foreign journalists in the world, founded in 1888. Elected to its governing Committee in 2002, Nazenin has served as President, Vice President, and Chairwoman of the FPA Media Awards.
One of the early highlights of her tenure at the FPA was launching the “Dialogue of Cultures” award. Speaking about the award, the former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said, ‘in choosing dialogue as the theme, the Foreign Press Association is quite deliberately refuting the notion of an inevitable clash of civilizations. A Dialogue of Cultures is not just a conversation, an exchange of views; it is a tough intellectual exercise which tests assertions and challenges misconceptions.”
Another meaningful collaboration was between the FPA and the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2011. Nazenin initiated and led the planning of the “Women as Agents of Change” symposium, attended by around 150 politicians, economists, human rights advocates, academics, and activists to mark the centenary year of International Women’s Day.
During her tenure as President, the FPA also participated in the UK Parliamentary Press Gallery Awards and British Press Awards, now known as Press Awards or the “Oscars of the British Press.” The UK Parliamentary Press Gallery award, a collaboration with the British Parliament, was presented annually to the journalist who was considered to have made a most significant contribution internationally to the ‘protection, promotion and perpetuation of parliamentary democracy.’
Nazenin has collaborated with the Georgetown Institute for Women in Peace & Security.
In 2021, her collaboration with GIWPS resulted in a 2 part series on women in Iran:
Beyond Geopolitics: The State of Women’s Rights in Iran and Iranian Women on the Frontlines: Strategies for Change.
In 2019, the event celebrated the long tradition of Iranian women’s leadership, as well as the diversity of ways women inside Iran and in the diaspora have been committed to women’s rights across generations.
Nazenin co-edited the Foreign Policy Centre’s Iran Human Rights Review: Access to Information in 2010 on the emergence of access to information as a pivotal element in promoting and protecting the human rights movement.
Nazenin received her BA in Public Affairs and Government from Mount Vernon College, George Washington University, and a Master of Arts degree from Georgetown University in International Relations and Comparative Politics (the Soviet Union and the Middle East.) She has worked with Iranian educational and charitable foundations, including the Mihan Foundation, Friends of Persian at Cambridge (University), Kahrizak Charitable Foundation, and Magic of Persia.