Nayeema Raza

Focus Areas: Media, Technology and Trust

Nayeema Raza is a journalist, podcaster and filmmaker whose work has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine and the Tribeca Film Festival. Her coverage explores the intersection of media, culture and power.

Nayeema is the host of “Smart Girl Dumb Questions,” which tackles big ideas with simple questions, and is a frequent guest moderator of “Open to Debate” on NPR. Nayeema was previously the on-air Executive Producer of the podcast “On with Kara Swisher” from Vox Media and the co-host of “Mixed Signals” from Semafor Media. Prior to that, she was a Senior Editor at The New York Times where she launched and oversaw the podcast "Sway." She also wrote essays on modern culture and was a videojournalist covering topics from immigration to online privacy for New York Times Opinion Video.

Nayeema came to journalism with a background in documentary filmmaking, with screen credits including Sublime (Tribeca Film Festival, 2019) and the 10-part documentary series That Animal Rescue Show (CBS All Access / Telluride 2020). She started her career at the Monitor Group advising foreign governments on large- scale policy reform in countries like Libya, Jordan, Vietnam and South Africa.

She holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a BSFS from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Nayeema was raised between the United States, Asia and Africa as a result of her late father’s career at the World Bank. She speaks English, Urdu, Spanish and (rusty) Bahasa Indonesia.

She is on the Board of Advisors of Open to Debate and on the Young Patrons Leadership Committee of the free expression organisation PEN America. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Writers Guild of America, and a 2024 Henry Crown Fellow within the Aspen Institute.

Education

• MBA, Stanford University
• MPA, Harvard University