Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is an Emmy-nominated journalist, producer and actor. He recently left his position as a Senior Presenter for AJ+ where he produced award-winning documentaries focused on social justice and human rights to explore new forms of storytelling and develop a podcast. Previously Ahmed worked as a reporter and producer for Al Jazeera English, as well as for the The New York Times, The Huffington Post and PBS. Ahmed is widely known for creating and co-hosting Al Jazeera English’s flagship program ‘The Stream’ an interactive live talk show nominated for an Emmy Award for Most Innovative Program in 2012.
In 2015, Ahmed was a correspondent on six documentaries for the award-winning VICE on HBO which he helped produce. In 2015 and 2016, he was featured on the Arabian Business Power List "100 under 40: The world’s most influential young Arabs." Ahmed helped establish HuffPost Live in 2012 for The Huffington Post, producing and hosting "World Brief," a 30-minute interactive global news show. In 2013 he was featured on Forbes’ "30 Under 30 list of young disruptors, innovators & media entrepreneurs impatient to change the world."
Before joining Al Jazeera English in 2009, Ahmed helped launch the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar where he worked as a correspondent and led the site's editorial content. His first job out of grad school was in New York with PBS where he worked as a digital producer for the award-winning documentary series "Wide Angle," and also as a videographer for FRONTLINE/World, before joining The New York Times' international desk as a News Producer.
In 2009, Ahmed began teaching digital media courses as an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School Of Journalism, his alma mater, where he graduated with honors in 2007. In 2013, Ahmed published his first book, "Demanding Dignity." Ahmed is passionate about telling stories that connect people across boundaries and borders that separate them. He is taking improve sketch comedy classes in NYC to develop some of his alter egos, and in the hopes of one day being told he is funny. He appears as a commentator for CNN, NBC, BBC, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, Yahoo and other platforms, and is often invited to speak at leading media, technology, and ideas conferences around the world - including the UN, World Economic Forum, SXSW, Aspen Ideas Festival and Google Zeitgeist. In 2013, the Network of Arab-American Professionals honored him with the 2013 Professional Excellence Award.
