Maryana Iskander

Maryana Iskander is an Egyptian-born American social entrepreneur and Skoll Award Winner. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, a leading South African NGO.
Early life and education.
Maryana Iskander was born in Cairo, Egypt, where she lived before emigrating to the United States with her family at the age of four. Her family settled in Round Rock, Texas. Iskander graduated Rice University magna cum laude with a degree in sociology before earning her MSC from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where she founded the Rhodes Association of Women. In 2003 she graduated from Yale Law School.
Professional life.
After graduating from Oxford, Iskander started her career as an associate at McKinsey and Co. Following her graduation from Yale Law School, Iskander clerked for Diane P. Wood on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, Illinois. She then served as the advisor to the President of Rice University, David Leebron. After two years, Iskander left her job at Rice to take the role of Chief Operating Officer for Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York. She has also served as strategy consultant for W.L. Gore & Associates, and a law clerk at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, and Vinson & Elkins in Houston.
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator.
Following her time at Planned Parenthood, Iskander started work in 2012 as the chief operating officer of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator in South Africa before becoming its chief executive officer in 2013, her current role. Harambee is focused on connecting employers to first-time workers to reduce youth unemployment and increase retention. Iskander wants employers to view hiring and retaining first-time workers not as a charitable act, but as a talent. By building a large pool of workers that is easily navigable and proving that youth can be employed successfully using this method, Harambee has been able to scale their efforts and effectiveness. During her time as CEO she has led Harambee to become one of South Africa's leading non-profits, and a significant contributor to employing South Africa's youth, having connected 100,000 young workers with work opportunities in partnership with 500 businesses as of June 2019.
Awards and distinctions.
Maryana Iskander has been the recipient of several notable awards and fellowships. These include the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and the Yale Law School Distinguished Alumnae Award. In 2002 she was awarded the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which is given to immigrants or the children of immigrants "who are poised to make significant contributions to US society, culture or their academic field". She was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and Harry S. Truman Scholarship. She was also a member of the 2006 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute, and of their Aspen Global Leadership Network. The organization and its leadership have been recognized with awards and funding from organizations like the Skoll Foundation and USAID.
Publications.
Iskander has published two articles in Yale legal journals, “Why Legal Education is Failing Women” and “Methodology Matters”. She has also been mentioned in two books, "View from the Top" by Michael Lindsay and "Make Trouble" by Cecile Richards. She has also had articles published in the Africa Portal and the South African Daily Maverick.
Talks and interviews.
Iskander has spoken at the Clinton School of Public Service, University of Arkansas. She has given interviews and talks with Yale Law School, The Skoll Foundation, and CapeTalk.