2007, Governance and Rights Concentration
Co-Founder and President of difrent:Inc.; PhD Candidate in Public and Urban Policy, The Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy
Practice-Based Work During SGPIA: Anushay developed a passion for development and community-based work through her participation in the first International Field Program in South Africa in 2007, where she researched governance, politics, and policy by working with youth groups from a Johannesburg township.
The year prior, Anushay also joined Professor Peter Lucas for a “Media and Human Rights in Rio de Janiero” program that eventually became an official International Field Program. In describing the experience, Anushay exclaims, “It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, I would say. First, [Rio de Janiero] reminded me of the city I was born and raised in, Karachi, and I started to understand the similarities both cities share in terms of landscape, (over)population, economics and culture, inequality, social injustice, and so on. I was also reminded that the reason I had gone back to school after working at a law firm was my commitment to want to make a change in the world with the people who need it the most, and not just for them.”
Current work: Anushay’s organization difrent:Inc. launched a docs-series and media platform called borderless in 2016 that features and connects people who are changing the world in courageous and creative ways.
What stood out to her most about SGPIA: “One of the best things I learned from SGPIA is the program’s inherent value on critical and comparative thinking and analysis, and the approach of practical rather than static learning,” says Anushay.
