Zara Basharat is the Head of Public Policy Programs and Partnerships for the Middle East, Türkiye, Africa, Pakistan and South Asia at TikTok. She leads the programs portfolio focusing on building strategic partnerships, with the goal of addressing some of the most critical and pressing issues in our regions by leveraging the scale and impact of technology, which range from improving access to education, digital safety, election integrity, financial literacy, employability and climate change.
She works closely on building alliances with the government across academia and the nonprofit sector. Zara has a background in Media, Strategy, Communications, Social Impact and Sustainability. Prior to joining TikTok, Zara served as Director Communications and Digital Sustainability at Jazz (part of the VEON Group). She has also led Communications and Sustainability portfolios at PepsiCo, Nestle, World Bank and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC). Zara has an MBA Program from London Business School. Prior to that, she studied Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Zara is a Boehm Media Fellow as part of the Opportunity Collaboration Global Network of Leaders, The Women’s Impact Alliance Fellow and an IVLP: Developing Future Women Leaders alumnus run by the U.S State Department.