A Gemini to the core, Afia’s contribution to DWL is multifaceted and diverse. DWL Co-founder, community moderator, former editor of Papercuts magazine, and now DWL’s director of strategy, Afia has worn many hats at DWL over the years, which she is perfectly happy to keep changing from minute to minute. Her varied interests and compulsive attention to detail have led her to be involved in everything from legal and financial matters to website design, offline events and social media engagement.

Afia was at the helm of Papercuts magazine from July 2010 to June 2015, spearheading the magazine’s conversion into a polished, high-profile publication that caters to a loyal readership and showcases work by writers from South Asia and beyond. Her book reviews and interviews with well-known authors became her trademark contribution to each issue of the magazine.

Professionally, Afia considers herself a bit of a turncoat from the development sector. She has an MPhil in Education from the University of Cambridge and has varied work experience, including coordination of a nationwide NGO programme for rural girls’ education, consulting for Pakistan’s National Education Policy team, research projects for DfID and USAID, and several freelance writing and editing assignments. Afia is also a blogger, a full-time mother to two toddlers, and a perennial writer in the making. She lives in Karachi, where she is working on her first novel.