Mona Chalabi

Mona Chalabi
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
Paris Institute of Political Studies
Occupation(s)Data journalist
Writer
Illustrator
Websitemonachalabi.com

Mona Chalabi is a British data journalist, illustrator, and writer of Iraqi descent, known for her publications with The New York Times and The Guardian.

Chalabi received the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary in 2023 for "striking illustrations that combine statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos."[1]

She was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award in the Category New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture in 2017 and received the 2020 Shorty Award in the category Best Journalist in Social Media.

Early life

Chalabi was born to Iraqi[2] immigrants and grew up in East London [3] where she was educated at Woodford County High School For Girls.[4] She received an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh[5] and earned a master's degree in International Security from the Paris Institute of Political Studies in Paris, France.[6][7]

Career

After working for the Bank of England, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the International Organization for Migration,[5] as of 2024, Chalabi works for The Guardian US.[8][9] She advocates the importance of data journalism in working to holding politicians accountable for making false claims and calling out media bias.[10] Her written work covers many diverse interests, from racial dating preferences[11] to research on Wikipedia.[12]

TV and Radio

In 2015, Chalabi presented a television documentary on racism in the United Kingdom for the BBC.[13] For National Public Radio she produced the Number of the Week.[14] Chalabi has made several appearances on Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk.[15]

In 2016 Chalabi, with Mae Ryan, created the four-part documentary series Vagina Dispatches about physical, social, and political aspects around women's bodies.[16][17] The video series was nominated for a 38th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Award in the category New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture in 2017.[18][19]

In 2017, she joined Richard Osman as a data presenter for Channel 4's Alternative Election Night, and was interviewed on The Weekly with Charlie Pickering. She also began hosting The Business of Life, a finance talk show on Viceland.[20] Chalabi presented her TED talk 3 ways to spot a bad statistic in early 2017.[21][22]

In 2018, Chalabi launched the podcast series Strange Bird.[23][3] She is a former regular guest on Frankie Boyle's New World Order[24] and has appeared as a guest panelist on BBC TV's satirical show Have I Got News For You.[25] In 2018, Mona joined American comedy panel show The Fix as a data expert, presenting her data illustrations.[26]

In 2020, Chalabi received the Shorty Award in the category Best Journalist in Social Media.[27][28] Chalabi was also recognized among Fortune's 40 Under 40 in Media and Entertainment in 2020.[29][30]

In 2022, Chalabi launched a podcast with TED, titled called Am I Normal? With Mona Chalabi which explores everyday questions through the lens of data. The podcast divers into the questions on everyone's minds "do I have enough friends? Should it take me this long to get over my ex? Should I move or stay where I am?". With the help of not only spreadsheets, studies, but also consulting experts and strangers, she gets some surprising answers that beg the question: does normal even exist? [31]

Illustrated Data

Chalabi's piece "100 New Yorkers" was displayed at the Westfield World Trade Center in late 2020. The work was a demographic representation of the city distilled into 100 characters (e.g. 68 of the illustrations were people of color because, at the time, 68% of the city was people of color)[32][33][34]

In 2020 Chalabi was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association. That year, fellowships were granted to those who made an outstanding contribution to public engagement and science communication in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.[35]

To understand New York’s trees, Chalabi was given access to the steps outside the Brooklyn Museum. She created a large-scale vinyl installation showing the 100 most common trees in the city. The work underscored patterns of inequality (neighborhoods with less money have fewer trees) and also health consequences (trees can reduce Covid-19 transmission rates).[36]

In 2023, Chalabi was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated reporting and Commentary for her New York Times Magazine piece "9 Ways to Imagine Jeff Bezos’ Wealth". At the award ceremony, Chalabi called out fellow journalists for their unwillingness to say the word "Palestine". She donated her $15,000 prize money to the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate to help fight what she sees as an "asymmetry" of information that elevates Israeli voices over Palestinian ones in the media.[37] Since October 2023, Chalabi continually highlighted the biases[38] in reporting on Israel and Palestine on major news platforms like BBC and The New York Times. Her data journalism has covered subjects such as "Countries that recognize Palestine as a state", "US Representatives who have invested in Weapons manufacturers that are arming Israel", "Orchestrated Famine", and more.

In 2024 Chalabi is an executive producer, writer, and creative director on Ramy Youssef’s upcoming animated series #1 Happy Family USA. This series is set to release in 2024 and follows a “Muslim-American family that must learn how to code-switch as they navigate the early 2000s”.[39]

Publications

The Ten, to be published by Random House in 2025, is "a 360-degree portrait of inequality in America".[40]

Exhibitions

2022: The Gray-Green Divide; The Brooklyn Museum, Art Installation

2022: Squeeze; Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, Art Installation

2021: Talking Climate Beyond Lies; The Climate Museum, Participatory Arts Campaign

2020: 100 New Yorkers; World Trade Center, Partnership with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Absolut Art, Art Installation

2020: Who Are You Here To See?; Design Museum, Paint

2019: The Worst Landlord in New York; Data Through Design, 3D Model Installation

2019: W. E. B. Du Bois: Charting Black Lives; House of Illustration, Paintings

2019: Women Who Make Art Tate Gallery; Animated Installation

2018: Amnesty International Poster Exhibit; Print

2013: Photographs by Numbers; Arab British Center, Digital photography

References

  1. ^ "Here are the winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prizes". NPR. 8 May 2023.
  2. ^ Boyce, Niall (2013). "Digital photography". The Lancet. 381 (9870): 895. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60659-5. S2CID 54313892.
  3. ^ a b "The Coolest Person On Instagram Right Now… Is A British Data Analyst". Refinery29. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  4. ^ Mona Chalabi (23 May 2016). "Say my name, say my name: why the 'correct' pronunciation is whatever I decide". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  5. ^ a b University of Edinburgh Interview with Mona Chalabi, 10 April 2014, retrieved 27 September 2015
  6. ^ "Q&A: Guardian US Data Editor, Mona Chalabi". ReportHers. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  7. ^ Manokha, Ivan; Chalabi, Mona (2011). "The Latest Financial Crisis: IR Goes Bankrupt". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.226.1481. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2282592. S2CID 145073775. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ "Mona Chalabi". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  9. ^ "Mona Chalabi". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  10. ^ "Measuring Bias in Israel-Palestine Coverage, and Mehdi Hasan's Approach to Covering the Region | On the Media". WNYC Studios. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  11. ^ Does having a racial preference when dating make us racist? Mona Chalabi | Youtube – The Guardian channel, 18 February 2015, retrieved 27 September 2015
  12. ^ Chalabi, Mona (30 May 2014). "The 100 Most-Edited Wikipedia Articles". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  13. ^ "BBC Three announces seasons on race and gender, The Fear and Murder Games". Media Centre. BBC. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  14. ^ "NPR Search : NPR". NPR. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  15. ^ "Mona Chalabi Archives". StarTalk Radio. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  16. ^ "Vagina Dispatches". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  17. ^ "The Friendship That Helped Create 'Vagina Dispatches'". The Atlantic. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  18. ^ "Vagina Dispatches". The Guardian. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  19. ^ "Nominees for the 38th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards announced" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  20. ^ "Mona Chalabi". IMDb. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  21. ^ "3 ways to spot a bad statistic". Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  22. ^ "A night to talk about redemption: TEDNYC Rebirth". TED. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  23. ^ "Strange Bird". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  24. ^ Dessau, Bruce (19 May 2018). "Review: Frankie Boyle's New World Order, BBC2". Beyond the Joke. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  25. ^ "BBC One – Have I Got News for You, Series 55, Episode 8". BBC. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  26. ^ Schroeder, Audra (14 December 2018). "'The Fix' is another talk show Hail Mary from Netflix". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  27. ^ "Best Journalist in Social Media - Shorty Awards". Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  28. ^ "Trevor Noah, Rebel Wilson, Zendaya Among Winners at Shorty Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. 3 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  29. ^ "40 Under 40". Fortune. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  30. ^ "Mona Chalabi - 2020 40 under 40". Fortune. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  31. ^ Uwagba, Otegha (1 February 2022). "Sound advice: five podcasts to help you live better". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  32. ^ "100 New Yorkers". The New York Times. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  33. ^ "Mona Chalabi - 100 New Yorkers". Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  34. ^ "Mona Chalabi's Week: Rewatching 'Succession' and Cooking 'Disgusting' Meals". The New York Times. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  35. ^ "Announcing our 2020 Honorary Fellows, the COVID-19 edition". British Science Association. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  36. ^ "Mona Chalabi: The Gray-Green Divide". British Science Association. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  37. ^ Sommer, Will (17 November 2023). "After Pulitzer win, N.Y. Times contributor criticizes Gaza coverage". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 March 2024.
  38. ^ "Longform Podcast #558: Mona Chalabi · Longform". Longform. 15 November 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  39. ^ Otterson, Joe (17 January 2023). "Ramy Youssef Amazon Animated Series Sets Main Cast, Including Alia Shawkat, Mandy Moore, Chris Redd (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  40. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
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