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Zahra Al-Harazi

Award-Winning Entrepreneur | Purpose-Driven Leadership Expert

Zahra Al-Harazi
Four Traits that Make Up Who We Are
Al-Harazi Thumb 1
Shaping Your Story
Al-Harazi Thumb 2
Navigating Being an Outsider
Virtual: Braving the Wilderness
Unbranded Me: TEDxCanmore
Zahra
Al-Harazi Thumb 1
Al-Harazi Thumb 2
Zahra Al-Harazi
Four Traits that Make Up Who We Are
Al-Harazi Thumb 1
Shaping Your Story
Al-Harazi Thumb 2
Navigating Being an Outsider
Virtual: Braving the Wilderness
Unbranded Me: TEDxCanmore

Zahra Al-Harazi is a globally recognized authority on leadership skill development and purpose-driven growth — equipping individuals and organizations with the human capabilities required to thrive in today’s high-stakes, high-change world. With a career forged through resilience, innovation, and a deep understanding of human potential, Al-Harazi dives into the core pillars of modern leadership — self-mastery, cognitive clarity, relational intelligence, and cultural agility — helping audiences build those skills with intention and turn them into their signature leadership presence.

A survivor of two civil wars, Al-Harazi immigrated to Canada in 1996 with no higher education, no network, and three children to raise. Within a few years, she founded Foundry Communications, building it into one of Canada’s top creative firms. Today, Al-Harazi is the co-founder of Skillit — a next-generation learning platform designed to bridge the global skills gap through peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. She is also currently working on an AI-powered learning platform that helps build foundational skills. It combines microlearning, behavioural feedback, and real-world challenges to accelerate leadership capacity.

A sought-after consultant, Al-Harazi has coached thousands of leaders, working directly with organizations to embed leadership development into their culture, strategy, and workforce design. Her expertise includes navigating organizational change, multi-generational workforce development, leadership mindset design, employee engagement, stakeholder evolution, and values-based transformation.

Al-Harazi’s work is informed by lived experience and real-world leadership, making her uniquely effective at helping leaders cultivate the skills and cultures required to thrive in complex, shifting environments, guiding them to master emotional regulation, decision-making under pressure, change leadership, communication clarity, and cross-cultural fluency. Her bestselling book, What It Takes, offers a practical guide to building the mindset, resilience, and skill agility required to lead with intention and clarity.

A dynamic speaker and facilitator, Al-Harazi has inspired audiences in over 20 countries with her no-nonsense approach to unlocking human potential. Her sessions blend strategic insight with real-world experience — equipping leaders at every level with the skills, mindset, and motivation to lead with intention, clarity, and courage in uncertain times. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, scaling startups, and professional associations.

Al-Harazi has been recognized as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women (WXN), one of Chatelaine’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, and one of RBC’s Top 25 Immigrants to Canada. She is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and a former Canadian Ambassador to UNICEF.

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

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Client reviews

  • Zahra’s presentation was VERY well received. We had many comments right after the session and they are still coming in. They thought that her message was very powerful, she was relatable and a wonderful keynote speaker. Thank you again for the great suggestion.

  • It was a pleasure having Zahra speak and engage with our leadership team. Her storytelling capabilities are as extraordinary as the life experiences she has had. She was very authentic in her approach and kept the message clear and on point. I walked away with several great take-aways that will support the ongoing growth in my leadership journey.

  • Zahra Al-Harazi’s magical personality shines through every word she speaks. The keynote she delivered for 350 young women at the JA Southern Alberta World of Choices Career Exploration event was warm, informative, and highly inspirational. Her insight into how people can harness their passion and overcome obstacles to become, and remain, successful is as refreshing as it is powerful. She is an amazing and engaging speaker. The audience becomes wrapped up in her message of perseverance and hope!

  • Zahra was committed, gracious, cooperative, and very easy to work with. The Launch event in 2012 was the most well-attended event in WIPP’s history. We feel this is thanks, in no small part, to Zahra’s compelling personal and professional accomplishments… Zahra’s powerful story of determination, spirit, and will to follow her dreams to a path of exceptional success, was inspirational and compelling to our audience. Our WIPP donors are still talking about the impact she made. One of the guests attending commented, “Her message resonated with all of the women in the room.”

  • Zahra’s keynote was nothing short of amazing. All of the advice that she shared with the audience was simple to understand, but by taking her advice and applying it to your day to day life, you knew that you can have a big impact on your path to success. Students and academic leaders in the crowd, were absolutely astounded by her story, one that received a standing ovation from every single individual in the crowd after her last words were said. With just over half of all the students involved in our program being females, Zahra served as an ideal role model for our female student leaders — as well as the males — one that they inspire to emulate. Through feedback from the audience afterwards, you could feel that everyone was energized, inspired, and motivated to overcome any obstacle, tackle any challenge, and achieve anything they put their mind to.

  • Not only does Zahra have a compelling story, but she has a very humble and connective way of telling it. From the moment she started her speech, I could tell the audience was engaged, involved, and wanted to hear more. She injected humor when needed, remained serious when the story got intense, and wasn’t afraid to share everything with the group. Zahra has a real message to tell, and makes sure to include lessons learned and expressly focus on the take home value inherent to her experiences.

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