Bio

Rida is a social entrepreneur who founded a women's vocational training NGO in Multan six years ago it now operates three training centres, has certified over 800 women in tailoring, digital literacy and beauty therapy, and placed 60% of graduates in employment or self-employment. She was married at 24 and divorced at 28 after a relationship that was fundamentally incompatible at a values level; she has a daughter aged 6 who lives with her and is, in her words, 'the funniest, most opinionated person she has ever met.' Rida herself is all of those things. She holds an MBA from IBA Karachi, speaks confidently in front of government ministers and equally confidently in Saraiki with the women she trains. She is observant — hijab, five prayers, halal — and has a particular dislike of people who confuse performance of religion with its substance. She is not bitter about her divorce; she is simply clearer now about what she needs and what she will not accept.