Mona Chalabi
Data Journalist
Mona Chalabi is an illustrator and journalist who really loves numbers. She is the Data Editor of The Guardian where she writes articles, produces documentaries, and illustrates, as well as animates, data.
After analysing statistics for the United Nations, Mona saw how important data was, but also how easily it could be used by people with their own specific agendas. Since then, her work for organisations like Transparency International and The Guardian has had one goal: to make sure as many people as possible can find and question the data they need to make informed decisions about their lives. She gives speeches and teaches courses on data journalism, and when she can, she illustrates data. Her illustrations have been exhibited by the Design Museum and were commended by the Royal Statistical Society, of which they said, “Her deceptively simple graphs are fun and accessible.”
Mona is one half of the team that created the Emmy-nominated video series “Vagina Dispatches,” which explores the physical, social, and sometimes political dynamics that surround women’s bodies. She also executive produced and hosted the audio experiment Strange Bird. Mona has a master’s degree in International Relations from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, studied Arabic in Jordan, and has worked for FiveThirtyEight, the Banks of England, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and the International Organization for Migration. She has written for radio and TV including NPR, Gimlet Media, Netflix, BBC, and National Geographic.