Laila Shadid is a journalist and creative writer. Her reporting centers on personal stories that illuminate broader political and social dynamics across the Middle East. Shadid has been published by Al Jazeera English, The New Arab, and the Pulitzer Center as a 2022 Reporting Fellow. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she co-founded Fenjan: The Middle East Journal. Shadid has lived in the West Bank, Palestine, and Amman, Jordan, as both a Fulbright Scholar and a CASA I Arabic Fellow. You can find her website here: https://lailashadid.journoportfolio.com/.