Zeina Shahla

Born in Damascus/Syria, where she is currently living and working, in 1982.

Zeina is a Syrian journalist. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Media Studies from the University of Damascus in 2017, graduating from the Syrian International Academy in Damascus with a diploma in International and Diplomatic Affairs in 2019. Her previous qualifications include a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the University of Damascus in 2004.

Zeina began a career in journalism in 2017, by focusing chiefly on social and humanitarian aspects of the war that Syria has been enduring since 2011, and by reporting related stories to local and Arab media outlets, including BBC Arabic, the Alquds Alarabi newspaper and Raseef22. In the same period, she embarked on social and cultural research with a number of institutions in Syria and Lebanon, including the American University in Beirut.
Zeina’s investigations center particularly on the efforts that are made to preserve Syrian heritage in the wake of the brutal war that Syria has been experiencing.

In 2017, she received a grant from the Ettijahat Cultural Institute in Lebanon to undertake research on the effects of the Syrian war on Damascene traditional textiles, the results of which are now being published and have been translated into English. In 2018 and 2019, she collaborated with a local project specializing in handcrafts, called »Sama Handmade«, to write a series of blogs about different topics relating to Syrian culture. In 2020, she was a finalist in Fakhri Albaroudi competition for researchers, a Syrian award given to young people who seek to document the history of their country.