Pashtana Durrani is an Afghan feminist, activist, and educator. At the age of 21, she became the head of her family following her father’s death. By then she had already founded LEARN Afghanistan, the country’s first-ever digital school network. As a human rights defender, she was forced into exile by the Taliban takeover in 2021 in order to continue her work safely from abroad. She is currently a visiting fellow at Wellesley Centers for Women where she is pursuing research on female education and maternal and newborn health. She also continues to provide education for hundreds of girls in Afghanistan despite the current ban on them attending school. Known for her bluntness and courage, Durrani is a regular commentator on TV and radio and has been the subject of articles and profiles published by platforms including PBS, BBC, Elle, Der Spiegel, and Wellesley College. Among her many achievements, Durrani has been named a Global Education Champion by the Malala Fund for her outstanding work to advance Afghan girls’ education. The BBC nominated her as one of its 100 most influential women in 2021, and she was also included in #Times100Talks in 2022. Durrani is a member of the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative’s (UNGEI) Feminist Education Coalition; an Aspen New Voices Fellow; and she received the 2021 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Emerging Leader prize. Previously, she has served as a global youth representative for Amnesty International and as a board member of the steering committee for the Global Environment Facility. She is also a recipient of the UN Young Activists Award 2022. Durrani’s biography, Last to Eat, Last to Learn, was published in 2022 in Germany and will be published in 2023 in the US and Italy.