Aarathi, in Conversation

Aarathi, In Conversation: Afeef Nessouli

Afeef and I met at a Slow Factory gala dinner in New York. We ended up at the same table, our eyes met across the room. We found our way to sit next to each other and said - tell me everything, I need to know you. That's the kind of person he is. Lebanese-American, raised in Atlanta, a journalist who's been reporting from the Middle East since 2011. He's written for The Intercept and The Wall Street Journal, produced for The Daily Show and CNN, was jailed in Beirut in 2011 for his reporting, lived through the 2006 Lebanon war with his mother, and spent nine weeks in Gaza in 2025 as both journalist and aid worker. He's a Pulitzer grant recipient. When we recorded this, he was back in Beirut. I grew up between Malaysia and Australia, never fit the boxes immigrant kids are supposed to fit into, and found my way to Rwanda at 25, where I learned quickly that you don't get to show up as the expert. We're both Third Culture kids who ended up doing work in hard places. This conversation is us trying to explain why: to each other and maybe to ourselves. How our backgrounds shaped the work, the moments that humbled us, why the bread subsidy matters more than the sanctions headline, and what it actually takes to listen. Afeef is now an advisor to RAKSHA. Follow his work on Instagram and X @afeefness, and on his upcoming show debuting in 2026, "...With Afeef Nessouli." Recorded early 2025.