Zahra Ebrahim

Zahra Ebrahim is a prominent public interest designer, strategist, and civic entrepreneur based in Toronto, Canada. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Monumental, an organization she established in August 2020 with Kofi Hope.23 Monumental focuses on creating fair and just cities and institutions, supporting an equitable recovery from COVID-19.24

Professional Background

Zahra's career has been dedicated to community-led approaches in policy, infrastructure, and service design. Her work aims to shift power to underrepresented individuals within institutions and systems.2 Prior to founding Monumental, she held several significant positions:

• Built and led Doblin Canada, Deloitte's Human-Centred Design practice12
• Founded and led archiTEXT, one of Canada's first social design studios2
• Served as an Executive Advisor to Deloitte on human-centred approaches to public sector innovation2

Academic and Teaching Experience

Zahra has a strong presence in academia:

• Instructor in City Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough since 20152
• Urbanist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto's School of Cities1
• Has taught at OCADU and MoMA12

Recognition and Leadership

Her contributions have been widely recognized:

• Named a Next City Vanguard Civic Leader
• Received Ascend Canada's Mentor of the Year award
• Recognized as one of "Tomorrow's Titans" by Toronto Life magazine
• Listed among WXN's Top 100 Women in Canadian Business
• Acknowledged as one of the Urban Land Institute's WLI Champions1

Board Memberships

Zahra actively participates in various organizations:

• Board member of the Toronto Arts Council and Canadian Urban Institute
• Board Chair for Park People1
• Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for People Design Co-operative2

Through her work at Monumental and various other roles, Zahra Ebrahim continues to make significant contributions to community building, urban development, and social innovation in Canada.