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Zahra Ebrahim

Public interest designer and CEO of Monumental

Zahra Ebrahim is a prominent public interest designer, strategist, and civic entrepreneur based in Toronto, Canada. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Monumental, an organization she established in August 2020 with Kofi Hope.23 Monumental focuses on creating fair and just cities and institutions, supporting an equitable recovery from COVID-19.24

Professional Background

Zahra's career has been dedicated to community-led approaches in policy, infrastructure, and service design. Her work aims to shift power to underrepresented individuals within institutions and systems.2 Prior to founding Monumental, she held several significant positions:

  • Built and led Doblin Canada, Deloitte's Human-Centred Design practice12
  • Founded and led archiTEXT, one of Canada's first social design studios2
  • Served as an Executive Advisor to Deloitte on human-centred approaches to public sector innovation2

Academic and Teaching Experience

Zahra has a strong presence in academia:

  • Instructor in City Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough since 20152
  • Urbanist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto's School of Cities1
  • Has taught at OCADU and MoMA12

Recognition and Leadership

Her contributions have been widely recognized:

  • Named a Next City Vanguard Civic Leader
  • Received Ascend Canada's Mentor of the Year award
  • Recognized as one of "Tomorrow's Titans" by Toronto Life magazine
  • Listed among WXN's Top 100 Women in Canadian Business
  • Acknowledged as one of the Urban Land Institute's WLI Champions1

Board Memberships

Zahra actively participates in various organizations:

  • Board member of the Toronto Arts Council and Canadian Urban Institute
  • Board Chair for Park People1
  • Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for People Design Co-operative2

Through her work at Monumental and various other roles, Zahra Ebrahim continues to make significant contributions to community building, urban development, and social innovation in Canada.

Highlights

Jul 7 · linkedin

Excited to do a (virtual) interactive talk with New York University School of Law's Future of Rights and Governance program (FORGE). I'll be sharing an emerging area of inquiry in my city building practice: thinking about nature as a rightsholder in governance and decision-making for cities. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gTBjWUBK

Feb 28 · linkedin

ICYMI: We could not be more excited to share the launch of our new program at Monumental: FutureBUILDS! Our work is a balance of responding to the challenges of the moment, and building the future we want. With this project, we're getting to do both. We're addressing systemic barriers racialized professionals face in real estate development and galavanizing a movement across the region (and hopefully across the country in the near future) to get more BIPOC folks building the housing that Canada critically needs.

Bonus that we get to deliver this program in partnership with our dear collaborators at University of Toronto's Infrastructure Institute!

Big thanks to Alex Bozikovic and the The Globe and Mail for the shoutout. And if your interested in learning more about this free program check out the website: https://lnkd.in/gvCB_ZC5

Check out the article here: https://lnkd.in/dG_mz5-E

#housing #gtahomes #socialimpact #socialentrepreneurship #realestate #skillsdevelopment #citybuilding #equitablecities

Related Questions

What inspired Zahra Ebrahim to start Monumental?
How has Zahra Ebrahim's work impacted community-led initiatives?
What are some notable projects Zahra Ebrahim has led at Monumental?
How does Zahra Ebrahim's background in social design influence her current work?
What are Zahra Ebrahim's future goals for Monumental?
Zahra Ebrahim
Zahra Ebrahim, photo 1
Zahra Ebrahim, photo 2
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Experience

CEO & Co-Founder at Monumental
Executive Advisor at Deloitte, Co-Leader at Doblin, Founder at archiTEXT

Education

Adjunct Professor at University of Toronto, Urbanist in Residence at School of Cities, University of Toronto

Location

Toronto, Ontario, Canada