Sana Mustafa

Associate Vice President of Philanthropy at Equality Fund, former CEO of Asylum Access

Sana Mustafa (she, her) is a movement leader in the forced displacement sector and a feminist human rights activist fighting against systems of oppression in Syria and around the world. Sana’s work has been informed by her experiences as a brown, Arab, and forcibly displaced woman. After being forcibly displaced by the Assad regime, Sana led the establishment of global efforts for the representation and inclusion of forcibly displaced persons such as the Global Refugee-led Network and the Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative (the first ever global fund by refugees, for refugees).

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Currently, Sana serves as the Associate Vice President of Philanthropy at the Equality Fund, where she partners with high and ultra high net-worth individuals to unlock additional resources, enabling the fund to continue supporting the groundbreaking work of women, girls, and gender-expansive people worldwide.

She also manages her own consulting business where she works with leaders, organizations, philanthropists, and foundations across sectors on a variety of issues such as equitable resource mobilization, leadership and organizational development, uplifting proximate leadership, and movement building.

As the former Chief Executive Officer of Asylum Access, Sana led the organization’s work to dismantle decades of colonialism, fight for self-representation, and build intersectional coalitions to demand human rights for all forcibly displaced people.

Sana is also an active public speaker. She has delivered a TED talk and spoken at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the National Press Club in Washington, D.C, the Carnegie Endowment, the White House, Skoll World Forum, Harvard Law School, Stanford, and numerous other venues. Sana is also the recipient of the 2023 Elevate Prize Foundation, which recognizes leaders who stand out for their innovative solutions to global challenges and provides generous funding.

Sana is a board member of Basmeh & Zietooneh, a local organization which helps displaced persons in Lebanon and Syria to build a life with dignity. Sana is also a member of Syria’s first Syrian Women’s Political Movement, a coalition with the aim of uniting women from across professional fields and ethnic lines to create a vision for women’s inclusion in a future Syria