Hala Droubi is the co-founder and director of The Counter Academy for Arab Journalism, a pioneering program that merges journalism with the humanities and social sciences to address critical and educational gaps in the Arab speaking world. A Syrian journalist and educator, she has reported for The New York Times on Syria and Dubai, and taught at university in Dubai and middle schools in Turkey.

With a psychology degree from the American University of Beirut and a master’s in Magazine Journalism from Columbia University, she is passionate about building educational spaces and fostering meaningful learning communities.

Beyond the Academy, Hala’s dream project is to develop alternative humanities education hubs in Syria’s underserved cities—spaces for critical thinking, historical reckoning, and healing through literature, philosophy, and other disciplines. Her work is rooted in a belief that these tools can empower youth to: Reclaim agency after 14 years of war and oppression and cultivate open societies.