Zena Barakat (she/her) is the Associate Director for the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership (EGAL) at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. She has always worked at the intersection of storytelling, organizational change, and creativity.
Prior, she was an executive design director at IDEO, where she specialized in communications and research. She led IDEO's inclusive design portfolio, working with organizations on their journey to be more inclusive, equitable, and responsible. She also did this work internally at IDEO, as she co-founded the Inclusive Design Collective, a group of designers working to evolve the company's design practices to be more inclusive and equitable.
Zena worked for over a decade in media, producing videos and documentaries for The New York Times, ABC News, National Public Radio, among others. She created and produced The New York Times' "Modern Love" animated video series, which was nominated for an Emmy. She produced a documentary that premiered at Sundance. And she worked at Apple as a head of video for the Apple News app.
Recently, taught a fellowship on equitable product design at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a class on innovation for the Design MBA program at the California College of the Arts. And she is also the founder and creative director for Public Access, a consultancy.
