Onaba Payab: Leading from the Front

A self-described “reserved Afghan,” Onaba Payab MAIPD ’18 is modest about her many achievements. Most of her classmates will not know that she is the first female valedictorian at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul; that before coming to Monterey as a Fulbright Scholar she moderated a discussion between former First Lady Laura Bush and then First Lady Michelle Obama; that she is considered to be one of Afghanistan’s future leaders and was recently part of a delegation of Afghan women at the U.S. Capitol. Here, she shares some of her insights with us.