IPN Spotlight: Nabila Alibhai (Founder, inCOMMONS)
Nabila Alibhai leads inCOMMONS, a new cultural production lab focused on invigorating public spaces and inspiring collective responsibility for our cultural and environmental heritage. Nabila Alibhai has had significant career in strategic and creative consulting. She has held positions in the Aga Khan Development Network, the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration and has worked on projects in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, the United States and Switzerland.
She has a Master of Public Health from Yale University and is trained in conflict resolution. She was also mid-career fellow in MIT’s Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies in order to advance her efforts on community solidarity through public spaces. She is a TED Speaker and author.
What skills have helped you in your career?
Skills: Strategic planning, communications, policy development.
Sectors: conflict resolution, community resilience, public health, urban planning.
What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
I wish I had put less effort into trying to define myself. Being at TED Global this year I met so many more people who have eclectic lives, and whose passions don’t quite fit a conventional mold. Though not without it’s challenges, doing new things necessitates stepping out of old paradigms.
What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Working as a consultant means I’m constantly learning. A mid-career fellowship (MIT Special Program in Urban and Regional Studies) was also a wonderful way of taking a step back and redirecting my life’s work.
What is next for you in your career?
Enabling pluralism, solidarity, health and safety through leadership development, governance and creating scalable public space initiatives. I do this through consulting, designing projects through inCOMMONS, and thought leadership – public speaking and writing.
What advice would you offer to others?
Figure out what you would do if no one was paying you to do it and do more of it.
Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Thinking through careers in development
• Figuring out career transitions
• Thinking through whether to go back to school
• Experience sharing in working in conflict and in public health
Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Nabila Alibhai
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