Anisa Mehdi  is Executive Director of the Abraham Path Initiative, an NGO that creates walking trails that brings people together to  experience the hospitality of the region commonly called “the Middle East.” Her coverage of local, national and global affairs has appeared on CBS, PBS’s Frontline, ABC's Nightline, NPR, and Stratfor.com. She has won two Emmy Awards, a Cine Golden Eagle, and numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Mehdi is the first American to cover the Hajj pilgrimage on location in Saudi Arabia. She produced and directed National Geographic's acclaimed Inside Mecca and directed "The Hajj" for PBS's "Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler."  

Mehdi consulted for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. She was a 2009-2010 Fulbright Scholar in Jordan, and serves on the board of the Esalen Institute. Mehdi writes about faith, culture, and politics, about her father, Dr. Mohammad T. Mehdi, an Iraqi-American expert on Palestine, and is an accomplished flutist. She has an MA  in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a Certificate in Jewish-Christian Studies from Seton Hall University. Mehdi is an alumna of Wellesley College.