People

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is an advocate, a policy-maker, an activist, and a survivor. On November 6, 2018, Congresswoman Pressley was elected to represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, making her the first woman of color to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts 7th is the most diverse and most unequal district in the state, requiring a representative whose experiences are reflective of the people. Like many in her district, Congresswoman Pressley has endured numerous hardships throughout her life, and it is because of those experiences that she remains a dedicated activist who’s devoted to creating robust and informed policies that speak to the intersectionality of her district’s lived experiences. She believes that the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power and that a diversity of voices in the political process is essential to making policies that benefit more Americans. Born in Cincinnati and raised in Chicago, Congresswoman Pressley is the only child of a single mother and a father who was in and out of the criminal justice system - creating an unstable household and forcing her to mature at a rapid rate. While her father ultimately overcame his addiction and went on to become a published author, Congresswoman Pressley was primarily raised by her mother Sandra Pressley, a tenants’ rights organizer who instilled in her the value of civic engagement. Thanks to her mother’s dedication to activism, Congresswoman Pressley has always been acutely aware of the role that government can play in lifting up families and communities. Congresswoman Pressley attended the Francis W. Parker School, a private school in Chicago where her activism and commitment to public service took hold. A devoted student, Congresswoman Pressley was supported by her teachers, faculty, and peers and was elected class president every year from 7th grade through senior year of high school. She was also elected student government president, was a competitive debater through her school’s chapter of Junior State of America, was the commencement speaker for her graduating class, and was named “most likely to be mayor of Chicago.” Congresswoman Pressley moved to Boston, MA in 1992 to attend Boston University, however, after a couple of years of enrollment, she withdrew from the University to help support her mother. She remained an activist in the community, working as a senior aide to Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, volunteering for Senator John Kerry’s reelection campaign, and working for Senator Kerry for 13 years in a variety of roles, including constituency director and political director. Senator Kerry described Congresswoman Pressley as a “force” who "believed in public service."

Ayelet Waldman is the author of _A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life_, the novels _Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, Love__ and Other Impossible Pursuits_, and _Daughter's Keeper_, as well as of the essay collection _Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace_ and the _Mommy-Track Mystery_ series. She is the editor of _Inside This Place_, _Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons_ and of the forthcoming _Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation_. She was a Federal public defender and an adjunct professor at the UC Berkeley law school where she developed and taught a course on the legal implications of the War on Drugs. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, Michael Chabon, and their four children.

**Ayr Muir** is the founder and CEO of Clover Food Lab, a vegetarian fast food chain. Muir is a MIT material science graduate and Harvard MBA alum who got started in 2008 with food trucks and then restaurants in Massachusetts, serving fast-casual, vegetarian meals to meat eaters.

**Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀** has written for the BBC, LitHub, The Guardian(UK) and others. She has received fellowships and residencies from MacDowell Colony, Ledig House, Sinthian Cultural Centre, Hedgebrook, Ox-bow School of Arts, and Ebedi Hills. She holds BA and MA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife. Ayọ̀bámi also has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia where she was awarded an international bursary for creative writing. In 2017, she won The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture. She has worked as an editor for Saraba magazine since 2009. Photo: [AyobamiAdebayo.com](http://ayobamiadebayo.com/about-ayobami/ "About Ayobami")

Azhar Chougle is the Director of Transit Alliance Miami. Since joining the organization, Transit Alliance has reversed $15 million in transit budget cuts through grassroots advocacy, created the world's first real-time transit audit for Miami's rail system, and launched a campaign designed to fix Miami's ailing bus system. Azhar comes from a creative background with expertise in branding, design, and coding and moved to Miami from New York City. [LiveableStreets](https://www.livablestreets.info/8th\_annual\_streettalk\_10\_in\_1?utm\_campaign=giving\_tuesday\_email\_1&utm\_medium=email&utm\_source=livablestreetsalliance "Liveable Streets")

Azita is the senior politics editor for GBH News. Prior to her current role, Azita was the planning editor for the flagship local nightly news show, Greater Boston. Feedback? Questions? Story ideas? Reach out to Azita at azita.ghahramani@gbh.org.

Azusa Lippit is a fall 2025 investigations intern at GBH News.

Bailey White's commentaries can be heard on NPR's award winning newsmagazine *All Things Considered*. White was born in 1950 in Thomasville, Georgia. White still lives in the same house in which she grew up, on one of the large tracts of virgin longleaf pine woods. Her father, Robb White, was a fiction writer and later a television and movie script writer. Her mother, Rosalie White, was a farmer, and worked for many years as the executive director of the local Red Cross Chapter. She has one brother, who is a carpenter and boat builder, and one sister, who is a bureaucrat. White graduated from Florida State University in 1973, and has taken a break from teaching first grade to pursue writing full-time. White is the author of *Sleeping at the Starlite Motel*, *Mama Makes Up Her Mind*, and *Quite a Year for Plums*.

Ban Ki-moon was born in South Korea and graduated from Seoul University in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. In 1984 he received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2008, the UN Secretary-General also earned an honorary Doctoral Degree from Seoul National University. Ban Ki-moon has worked all his life as a career diplomat. His 38-year career in the Foreign Service has included 12 years on UN-related missions. Mr. Ban discovered an interest in diplomacy early on. He decided to devote his life to this passion after meeting President John F. Kennedy on a visit to the United States in 1962 as an 18-year-old student. Upon graduating from college he joined the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs after receiving the top score on the Foreign Service entrance exam. He accepted his first posting in New Delhi, where he served as the Vice Consul. Mr. Ban first started working for the UN as First Secretary at the Republic of Korea's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. He continued his career as the director of the United Nations Division in Seoul at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became the International Organizations and Treaties Bureau director of the UN. Mr. Ban had several postings in Washington, DC and also served as Director-General for American Affairs in the foreign ministry. During his time as the ambassador to Vienna, he served as Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. He was appointed as Foreign Minister in January 2004. During his term as Minister he endeavored to establish peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and promoted the adoption of the Joint Statement on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue at the six-party talks. He was elected the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly on October 13, 2006.

Banafsheh Keynoush, PhD, is a scholar of international affairs. An academic for over thirteen years, she has conducted fieldwork in the Middle East for two decades, including in Saudi Arabia and Iran, was a visiting scholar at Princeton University, and a visiting fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. The author of Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends or Foes? (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), she is the editor of Iran’s Interregional Dynamics in the Near East (New York: Peter Lang, 2021). Her other publications include articles published in academic journals, policy papers, and media reports. In addition, she is the translator and editor of Refugee Rights in Iran written by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi (London: Saqi, 2008), and the editor of five volumes of Persian poetry entitled the Five Treasures of Ferdowsi (Tehran: Iranian Calligraphy Society, 1999).