Thuraya Ismail is a Saudi Eisenhower Fellow, human and social development expert, youth empowerment specialist, and an art advocate. Born in Saudi Arabia, she grew up in a highly educated family, where her father was a renowned physician in Riyadh. Thuraya studied political science at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and completed her graduate studies in international affairs at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2002. She is a certified human development specialist through the Virtu