Muna AbuSulayman

From elementary school through college and graduate schools, she lived between Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and the United States.

AbuSulayman attended King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia, International Islamic University Malaysia and George Mason University. She graduated in 1993 from George Mason University and holds a B.A. and M.A. in English literature.[10] She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Arab American literature from King Saud University.[11]

In terms of her media career, she founded and co-hosted the MBC TV social program Kalam Nawaem which is considered to have a viewership of tens of millions and is one of the most watched social programs by Arabs worldwide. Her role in the station was as a presenter and she mainly focused on the social segment of the program in which she tried to convey the message to the viewer in the best way possible.[9][12]

In the corporate world AbuSulayman started working in Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's Kingdom Holdings company. She served as the Executive manager of Strategic Studies and Research Initiatives. Prior to taking this post she had no experience in HR and administration and she had to learn everything in the first 6 months working for the company, but also gained personal experience while working together with Alwaleed. She does not deny The 'Alwaleed Effect' and says, smiling, "when I first joined, I asked His Royal Highness to provide me with some executive training as I had no business experience, so I was sent to take a few courses"; she then adds, "but I realized later that working with him was my real executive training".[13]

In 2006 she took on the task of building the Alwaleed bin Talal foundation, previously known as Kingdom Foundation. This foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Kingdom Holding company. In this capacity, she is developing and implementing the foundation's mission, vision, and operations for strategic philanthropy and humanitarian assistance. She is responsible for the global philanthropic activities, projects, and donations that reach the globe. When asked about getting this job she said in an interview with Aljazeera English "I guess I did such a good job that he offered me the foundation".[12]

AbuSulayman has received some criticism for being a woman engaged in public life.[12]

AbuSulayman described her work in this area in the Arab-U.S. policymakers conference by saying: "we work with Islam-West dialogue, which is one of the biggest areas. Four departments in the foundation and that's to help build bridges between Islam and the West through academic institutions. It is to bring objective intellectual academic work to the arena, to bring common sense and logic to the discussion, as we have seen that these two were lacking in the last eight years. We also fund a lot of initiatives like this conference and the organization of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. We fund the rabbi's and imam's conferences, some leadership initiatives between Muslims and Western leaders so they can come to the table. Some of it is publicized, some not publicized."[9]

AbuSulayman gave a lecture at Yale University where she talked about the misconceptions that the West has about Islam.[14]

"When you change women's conditions and empower them, you change the whole family" said Muna in an article by arabianbusiness.com, she also said, Prince AlWaleed firmly believes that encouraging and supporting women and female initiatives is one of the most important ways to measure real tangible progress in any country. From this view stems her strong support for women empowerment in the world and especially in Saudi Arabia.[15][16]

Talking about motherhood Muna said that the years mothers spend raising their children should be taken into consideration when they are applying for a job. Instead of starting as an intern or a novice employee, they should be starting as assistant managers with a certain salary. She justified this by saying that mothers gain a lot of experience raising children, they acquire skills like patience, multitasking and management, and these shouldn't be neglected by employers and should be compensated financially.[14]

In an interview with the Saudi Gazette Muna said, "I want girls to see that there is almost no limitation to where they can go. The most important thing they can do is to work to be content, happy, married and to have children."[17]

AbuSulayman shares the custody of her two children with her former husband. In an interview with the Saudi Gazette she said in order to help her children learn to use their time effectively there is a no-TV rule at home during the weekdays.[17]

• 2004, Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.[4]
• 2005, Saudi UN Goodwill Ambassador, UNDP.[5]
• 2007, Middle East Businesswomen & Leaders Achievement Award for her Achievements in Regional and International Relations.[6]
• 2009, Named one of 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World.[7]
• 2009, Excellence Arab women award, by the Arab Woman Studies Center
• 2009, Yale World Fellow.[18]
• 2010, Colin Morley Award.[19]
• 2019, Most Influential Person on Twitter, by The World Social Media Forum [20]

• Muna AbuSulayman at Global Speakers Bureau
• An Interview with Muna AbuSulayman by asmalleorld.net
• A Conversation with Muna AbuSulayman by Saudi Gazette
• Aljazeera English One on One with Muna AbuSulayman
• An Interview with americanbedu.com
• Foundations for Change in the Arab World: A Woman’s Personal and Professional Perspective Muna AbuSulayman
• World Economic Forum, Panel Race for and Audience Media in the Middle East 2009
• Lecture and Interview at Yale University Department of Religious Studies
• Professor Urges More Translations to Arabic