Biography

Maya El-Ammar is a journalist, editor, and media and communications specialist with extensive experience supporting civil society organizations in the fields of media, gender, feminism, and advocacy. Over the past two decades, her work has included designing and leading training courses, developing guidance manuals, and organizing some of the largest feminist media campaigns in Lebanon. She currently contributes to independent media platforms as a journalist, commentator, translator, and editor in Arabic, and serves as the communications and membership program coordinator and senior editor at “JIM,” an independent media outlet that produces Arabic-language content on gender, sexuality, and the body.

Over the past decade, Maya has produced opinion videos and podcast episodes, and has written and translated in-depth articles and resources in collaboration with independent media platforms, research organizations, and other nonprofits. In 2025, she co-authored a policy paper proposing a rights-based approach to abortion in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2023, she co-authored a research paper titled “Bridging the Gap: Feminist Perspectives on Public Policy-Making and Women’s Political Participation in Lebanon.”

Maya headed the Communications and Media Department at the organization “Enough Violence and Exploitation” until 2017. From 2019 to 2025, she worked with Crisis Action as a strategic expert on media and communications, where she supported several campaigns aimed at protecting civilians in war zones. She also served as editor-in-chief of the Arabic edition of the “MedFem” platform between 2021 and 2024. You can view some of her work here.