Home - The Defiant Optimist

Imagine a world where each of us is a Defiant Optimist™

This is Professor Durreen Shahnaz's journey in giving women a voice - a story of a defiant girl rising up, turning inclusion into power, and fuelling change with optimism. This can be your story too.

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With every step, I knew in my heart, my north star was to create a better world than the one I was born into. A world of inclusion, opportunity, and sharing of power.

But the brave women of Bangladesh and many other countries across the globe demonstrate that while women suffer the consequences of war, they don't always see themselves as victims. They heroically carry on.

Durreen Shahnaz

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“An inspiring read by a passionate trailblazer. Durreen Shahnaz shares her remarkable experiences with challenging the status quo, beating the odds, and fuelling change."

Adam Grant,

#1 New York Times bestselling author of THINK AGAIN and host of the TED podcast Re: Thinking

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Begin your own journey as a Defiant Optimist™

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"...her passion flows through The Defiant Optimist, inspiring women and girls and reminding them of the power they hold if they only dare to dream."

- Dr. Judith Rodin, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation and Former President of the University of Pennsylvania

"... timely, necessary, and most importantly, empowering for all who want to create change, however small."

- Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank, Nobel Prize Winner, 2006

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This journey takes shape in thousands of little steps. Take the first one and join our community of change-makers..

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Durren Shanaz

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