Zahra Al Hilaly grew up watching her parents navigate systems that weren't built for them. As a child of refugees, she learned early how injustice shows up – in housing, in employment, and in the stories told about families like hers.

Those experiences didn't harden her. They sharpened her sense of what fairness looked like – and her drive to do something about it.

That led her to study law and journalism at Murdoch University, drawn by a desire to understand power and how it could be challenged.

"I really wanted to understand how power operates – who holds it, who it's exercised over, and how it can be challenged," she said.

"Together, those degrees gave me a structural lens and a human one at the same time."

Zahra has channeled her lived experience and education into pushing for meaningful change in gender equality and human rights – often in the rooms where major decisions are made.

"The first time I stepped into the UN, it was insane. I was in awe, but staying true to my values in those rooms matters more than the room itself."

It's a responsibility that she's learned to embrace and says her time at Murdoch University equipped her to do that. There she found people who supported her ambitions among a community grounded in social justice.

Murdoch University felt different from the outset. It wasn't just about technical excellence or professional outcomes. There was a genuine emphasis on ethics, social justice and critical thinking as something you actually practice.

Through internships, study abroad and hands‑on legal work with real people, Zahra began to test her ideas against the world she wanted to change.

"There was this beautiful culture where you were really able to absorb yourself in what was available, and I took up as many opportunities as I could."

A pivotal moment came during a law unit where students worked with low‑income schools to teach young people about structural inequality in legal systems.

"That was when I recognised that this degree could give back to communities that mirrored my own," Zahra said.

"There were people I could see myself in, ten or fifteen years earlier."

Zahra says it was Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny and Sonia Walker who deeply inspired her during her studies. Not only for what they taught her, but for how they continued to show up.

They have been so foundational in my career. They're always checking in on me, sending opportunities my way to better myself and to lead in the professional capacity that I have always intended to explore.

After graduating, Zahra worked with remote communities, supported refugees on Christmas Island, consulted for the United Nations, and became CEO of Australia's only youth‑led international development group.

Today, she works with Women Deliver, the world's largest gender equality organisation, advancing policy and programs across sexual and reproductive health, climate justice and adolescent girls' rights.

Zahra believes change requires generosity, relationship‑building and the courage to invite people in – alongside a willingness to challenge systems without compromise.

"I learned that you need to be ruthless with systems and kind with people," she said.

When asked what she's most proud of, Zahra doesn't mention accolades or influencing world leaders. It's the small signs of change.

"Impact isn't about scale. It's about whether power shifts, even incrementally. Whether someone who wasn't in the room before is in the room now."

For others who care deeply about a cause and want to do something about it, Zahra's advice is grounded and hard‑won: to show care.

"Care isn't a liability. It's one of the sharpest tools we have," she said.

"Show that you care and the path will make sense eventually. Not because it was planned, but because you kept showing up for the right reasons."

The systems Zahra watched her parents struggle against still exist. But today, she moves through them with clarity, purpose and resolve.

Start your career in law