Humaira Ghilzai

Humaira Ghilzai (born August 1968) is an Afghan-American cultural advisor on Afghanistan for theater, opera, television and film. As a part of her cultural advocacy Humaira writes a blog Afghan Culture Unveiledhttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/afghan-food_l_61624831e4b0fc312c97e384, and speaks about Afghanistan, its people, women and the plight of refugees.https://www.kalw.org/show/your-call/2021-08-24/the-plight-of-afghan-refugees
Humaira's cultural advisory work on the Broadway production of the The Kite Runnerhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/theater/the-kite-runner-amir-arison.html and Off-Broadway production of Heartland and the opera A Thousand Spendid Sunshttps://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/classical-music/seattle-operas-a-thousand-splendid-suns-how-a-new-opera-is-born/ has been mentioned in The New York Times, The Seattle Times, The Economist, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presee, and on PBS Newshour, NPR and BBC's Music Matters.https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/02/24/the-tragic-timeliness-of-a-thousand-splendid-sunshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bTl-fGcTj0https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230224-a-thousand-splendid-suns-opera-spotlights-afghan-womenhttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/best-selling-afghan-novel-the-kite-runner-is-adapted-for-broadway/https://www.npr.org/2022/07/20/1112105425/kite-runner-broadwayhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jcjc.
Her advisory work on regional theater shows includes Selling Kabulhttps://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/theater/seattle-reps-selling-kabul-offers-a-humanizing-look-at-who-the-u-s-left-behind/ (a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama)https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/sylvia-khoury, Blood and Gifts, The Most Dangerous Highway in the Worldhttps://newplayexchange.org/plays/4937/most-dangerous-highway-world, Two Jews Walk Into a Warhttps://theaterj.org/22-23-season/two-jews-walk-into-a-war/, and Slow Falling Birdhttps://newplayexchange.org/plays/406/slow-falling-bird. She has also worked on the Apple TV show Little America, and the films A Merry Friggin' Christmas, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and Away, Together.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13186700/
Humaira has presented about Afghan women, Afghanistan history, Afghan culture and issues of gender equality in Muslim countrieshttps://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2021-09-20/afghan-tragedy to The Commonwealth Club, the World Affairs Council, the Global Fund For Women, The Asia Foundation, Women for Women International, KPMG, Klayvio, and the University of California, Berkeley. 
Humaira is a faculty member of “The Immigration Experience in California Through Literature and History” at San Jose State University’s National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute.https://www.neh.gov/programinstitutefellowship/immigrant-experience-california-through-literature-and-history-0
==Early Life & Education==
Humaira was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her family fled the country in 1979 after the Russians invaded Afghanistan.https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/afghan_MIG.pdf They took political asylum in the United States and made the San Francisco Bay Area their new home.https://wnba-sfchapter.org/participant/humaira-ghilzai/ Humaira attended Mills College and San Jose State University and has a degree in International Business.
==Social Entrepreneur==
Humaira co-founded Afghan Friends Network in 2003.http://www.afghanfriends.net The Afghan Friends Network (AFN) raised over $550,000 to improve education for boys, girls and women in the province of Ghazni. AFN has educated 4,300 girls and 350 mothers, provided educational programs for over 1000 boys with English, science and math after school classes. AFN also provided university scholarships to 26 girls and 8 boys, trained 450 male and female teachers, and employed 25 Afghans in the province of Ghazni.http://www.afghanfriends.net/the-khurasan-learning-center
In 2006 Humaira co-founded the Hayward/Ghazni Sister City (HGSCC) which was approved by Sister Cities International.https://www.windofhopeafghanistan.net/sister-city The HGSCC relationship offered ordinary Americans living in Hayward and the Northern California Bay Area an opportunity to extend a hand of friendship to ordinary Afghans in Ghazni, Afghanistan. HGSCC has been focused on Person-to-Person Diplomacy and has created and supported humanitarian projects. Many members of the HGSCC members have traveled to Afghanistan, and have hosted visitors from there as well. HGSCC continues to support projects in Afghanistan.
==Theater and TV/Film==
* BROADWAY: Matthew Spangler’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s best selling book: The Kite Runner, directed by Giles Croft
* OFF-BROADWAY: Gabriel Jason Dean’s play Heartland directed by Pirronne Yousefzadehhttps://www.gabrieljasondean.com/heartland
* TOURS: Ursula Rani Sarma’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, directed by Carey Perloff
* REGIONAL THEATER: Seattle Rep in Seattle, Washington and Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia: Sylvia Khoury’s play, Selling Kabul; La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California: J. T. Rogers’ play Blood and Gifts directed by Lucie Tibergien; Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, California: Kevin Artique’s play, The Most Dangerous Highway in the World directed by Evren Odickinhttps://www.osfashland.org/en/artist-biographies/artistic-staff/Evren-Odcikin.aspx; Theatre J in the District of Columbia: Seth Rozin’s play, Two Jews Walk Into a War directed by Adam Immerwahr
* OPERA: World Premiere of Sheila Silver’s A Thousand Splendid Suns opera directed by Roya Sadat at the Seattle Operahttps://www.seattleopera.org/on-stage/2023-a-thousand-splendid-suns/
* TV/FILM: Apple TV: Little America; Film: A Merry Friggin' Christmas, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Away, Together
==Educational Work==
* The University of San Francisco: Slow Falling Bird
* “The Immigration Experience in California Through Literature and History” at San Jose State University’s National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute.
Category:1968 births
Category:People from Kabul
Category:Advisors
Category:Writers
Category:Producers
Category:Educators