Eisha Mehtab

When Eisha was a child, her mother told her that as a girl in Pakistan, education was the only thing that would really support her in life. Eisha took this to heart, and, despite serious financial hardship, she persevered to win scholarships and pay for her education herself. Today, her number one priority is promoting the importance of women in leadership throughout politics, business and education. Through the NGO that she co-founded – “The Mirror” – Eisha works to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and dismantle gender violence in Pakistan, with the help of an internationally funded national network of over 300 alumni and members.  

The Mirror works within several different spaces in Pakistan society. At a basic level, Eisha has organized awareness sessions on consent and harassment for children in multiple public schools; she is also working to launch a globally approved mental health curriculum in Pakistan’s public and private schools in the next five years, due to the lack of knowledge available on the subject. The Mirror has also developed a leadership curriculum for middle to high school, centered around skills like adaptability training, gender sensitivity, scientific research and creative writing. Eisha has invited various leaders to take part in “The Mirror Classrooms” on financial literacy, juvenile rights in the legal space, and empowerment of South Asian women. Aside from her NGO, she has also given back to her community in other ways by volunteering with the Rizq foodbank and tutoring underprivileged children in her neighborhood free of charge. 

Eisha’s work with The Mirror has been nationally recognized for its humanitarian aid and social impact, and Eisha herself has been named one of the “25 under 25” women in Pakistan. As a result she has been able to access over 3,000 students through awareness sessions, panel talks, podcasts, leadership development programs, and mentoring opportunities. She is also a recipient of the Erasmus Mundus and Bradley Hills scholarships. After her studies, Eisha aims to work as a social psychologist and feminist policymaker at an international level, contributing to forums such as the United Nations, UNESCO, UNHRC and UNDP on issues like sustainability, climate change, poverty, refugee crises, and safe agricultural development in developing economies.  

With the Global Student Prize funds, Eisha would fund her social enterprise startup idea – a mindful movement to build a globally recognized mental health curriculum, using technology to create access for everyone and making a space for honest conversations surrounding mental health in Pakistan. Her experience as a mindfulness instructor and founder of a nationally recognized NGO – coupled with her degree in Psychology and her future master's degree in social inclusion, diversity and mobility – equips Eisha with the relevant experience and connections to advance her idea and start it on solid ground.