Zeba Khan is a writer and new media consultant for nonprofits. In 2009, Zeba was the first runner-up in the Washington Post’s “America’s Next Great Pundit” competition, beating out nearly 5000 other aspiring writers. Zeba has written in numerous media outlets, including the Huffington Post and the Washington Post.  As a social media consultant, Zeba created the online grassroots community for The List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, a nonprofit that aims to help U.S.-affiliated Iraqis successfully resettle in the U.S. and has also consulted with the Ashoka Foundation to help develop their first-ever global virtual campaign to incubate young social entrepreneurs worldwide.  A Fulbright Scholar, Zeba received a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a joint MA/BA from the University of Chicago.

Recently, SuhaibWebb.com interviewed Zeba about her work as a journalist, as well as the role Muslim-Americans have to play in the ever-changing media.

Webb Reporter: The past few months have been quite a publicity heyday for you in that your name has topped the landscape of Muslim-American journalism through the Washington Post competition. What are your reflections regarding this accession?

Zeba Khan: As a newcomer to public commentary, if my name topped the Muslim-American journalism landscape, that only points to the fact that we are heavily underrepresented in the field. There are definitely other Muslim-American writers/journalists who have been in the field much longer than I have who have made significant contributions to the field as a whole. It just so happens that I was in a contest that required a get-out-the-vote campaign, so my name received a lot of attention for a couple of months as folks pushed me forward through each round.

The contest was a great opportunity for me to explore public writing and to receive feedback from the editors of one of the nation’s top newspapers. I couldn’t have asked for a better education in op-ed writing.

WR: Your concentration on issues pertaining to the image of Islam in America is vastly admired yet a rather neglected concentration among the national population of professional journalists. How would you describe the progress of this particular field since you began journalism?

ZK: I actually wouldn’t say I have concentrated on gilding the image of Islam in America at all. My interest in writing about Islam and Muslims is the same as with any topic – I want readers to consider the entire picture, not just what the loudest voices want us to hear. With respect to Islam and Muslims, I think there is a particular need to highlight the diversity and plurality of the faith and the culture of Muslims because unfortunately most of what we read about Muslims today is very narrow in scope and stereotypically violent when that simply isn’t reflective of the 1.4 billion Muslims on the planet.

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