Laeba Khan is a recent graduate of the University of Waterloo, where she studied International Development and Political Science. Currently, she is a Global Governance M.A candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.

Coming from an interdisciplinary international development background, Laeba is interested in bridging together diverse perspectives of global governance such as development issues and global politics. While at BSIA, she is looking forward to continuing to explore the topics of gender equality and social justice, and the role that multilateral institutions can play in this sphere.

As part of her fourth year undergraduate placement, Laeba worked for the Women’s Initiative for Startup’s and Entrepreneurship (WISE) based in Hanoi, Vietnam. This placement was an invaluable opportunity to contextualize the international development issues she learned about throughout her degree and apply her classroom knowledge to the real world. In addition, working with an international non-profit organization helped her gain firsthand experience in addressing the issues that women in developing countries face.

Outside of academia, Laeba has worked with numerous local organizations and even formerly held a position on MP Bryan May’s Youth Council in Cambridge, ON. All of these compelling opportunities have deepened Laeba’s passion for community engagement and further enforced her belief in the potential that local actors have to be their own agents of change.