A Peek Inside Her Agenda: Noorain Khan

At the Ford Foundation, Noorain plays a crucial role in shaping and executing the foundation’s vision and initiatives. During her time at Ford, she has overseen strategic grant making in the Office of the President, ensuring that the foundation’s leadership is aligned with its mission to tackle inequality in all its forms. She is also instrumental in fostering collaborations and partnerships that amplify the foundation’s impact globally. Her work involves a delicate balance – a dance of strategic thinking, leadership, and a deep understanding of the complex social issues Ford is working hard to dismantle. 

She also previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor on the National Economic Council at the White House, as Chief of Staff at Teach For All, and as an attorney at Wachtell Lipton. Just last year, standing firm to lead the empowerment of women, Noorain now serves as the USA’s 27th National Board President for Girl Scouts, making her the chief volunteer of the largest girl-led organization in the world. Her diverse background has given her the tools to maintain a unique perspective on the intersections of law, policy, and philanthropy, enabling her to navigate the complexities of her role with finesse.

Her Agenda had the privilege of chatting with Noorain Khan, delving into her journey, her approach to leadership, and her vision for the future of philanthropy. Noorain’s story is one of resilience, ambition, and an unwavering commitment to social change. Through her work, she not only drives the Ford Foundation’s mission forward but also serves as an inspiration for those looking to make a meaningful impact in the world. 

Noorain’s dedication to empowering marginalized communities and her strategic approach to philanthropy make her a powerful force in the fight for equity and justice.

Her Agenda: Your career has spanned through several fields. From the law to philanthropy and social justice. What would you say has been one of the more pivotal moments in your professional journey so far?

Noorain Khan: There are obviously a lot of micro-pivotal moments, but the really big turning point for me was officially leaving the law and a private sector role and turning to something more public-minded.

That’s a point of inflection because I wasn’t unhappy with what I was doing. It wasn’t a rejection of what I dedicated my early career to. It was really about what I thought was possible and how I could contribute, and it certainly was a risk.

Being the daughter of immigrants and taking a leap like that is a big deal. I was supported by my parents. I can’t say they always understood, but that leap also had financial consequences. Not ones that would mean I wouldn’t do it, but there’s a cost to everything, and I’m so grateful and so proud I took that leap.

Her Agenda: What actually inspired that transition for you? You mentioned that nothing went wrong, or there was nothing negative that happened, but you just wanted to change.

Noorain Khan: So much of what you value, you can discover through how you spend your time and your energy, and also what kind of energy you leave with if you do a thing, and that’s just such a useful tool for people to assess where they’re going, what they’re doing. 

Oftentimes, you’re so mired in the day-to-day of something, you don’t even have a sense of whether it’s working or not, so really what I encourage and what really helped me was, in my early years at my law firm, I spent a lot of vacation time on volunteer projects, and so much so that my second year I had spent almost all my vacation time on a really exciting, energizing Girl Scout project. It was bringing together 500 girls from 80 countries and 80 US cities to come together and do a kind of UN-style collaborative, deliberative experience, and I was one of the volunteer adult organizers. I got energy when I came out of that, I spent all my vacation time on it. That’s telling me something about where I need to be. It can always be my side dish, or it could be the thing that I do day and night, so that was the real indicator for me at the end of that time. How I felt after that project, and how I felt after dedicating so much time to that project, and really just decided I could actually have a job where I do that rather than try to squeeze it into other parts of my life.

Her Agenda: You started doing this work on the side, but now you get to do it for a living. Can you share a project or initiative that you worked on that has had the most significant impact on you? 

Noorain Khan: Well, I’ve had the great privilege of being a generalist. I certainly specialize, but I don’t start as a specialist. I get into something, I tease something out, I learn about it, and then that’s an area I work in for any period of time. And the thing I’d probably say I’m most proud of, in terms of my work at the Ford Foundation, which was quite vast and expansive and covered everything from arts and culture to technology, to gender, to much more, was my work on disability rights.

We became an institution that had no intentional focus on disability [starting out] and, within a few years, [became] the largest private funder of disability in the world under my stewardship.

It’s awesome to be the largest but I would hope that, with funding at the same amount, we would be one of the smallest. This is a field that needs more and more. It’s a very intersectional field that has community members across race, ethnicity, backgrounds, immigration status. That’s really, really important. But I especially love that we didn’t start by creating a program area in disability rights. We said to every single program area how do you serve people with disabilities within your strategy? So it kind of forced everyone to the table and didn’t segregate the disability work. And I think that’s so powerful and important.

And I think a real marker of pride for me is that I actually don’t do that work anymore. I don’t lead that work at Ford anymore. And it continues to flourish under the leadership of people with disabilities at Ford. And that’s a win when something lives well beyond you and flourishes.

Her Agenda: And I mean, on top of your work at the Ford Foundation, you’re also the national president for Girl Scouts. Was that pretty recent?

Noorain Khan: Yes, I’ve been a long-time board member. I’ve been on the board for 10 years. And I was elected president last summer.

Her Agenda: Congratulations! 

Noorain Khan: Thank you so much. I’m about a year into a three-year term, and it feels both new and like I’ve been in it for a while.

I was a Girl Scout growing up. It’s a real passion of mine. I’m so inspired by the scale of the organization. We have millions of members across the country in every single residential zip code. We don’t care who your parents voted for. We are here for girls. And I know this is Her Agenda, so [you know as much I do that while] there have been tremendous strides in the realm of gender, there have of course been retractions. More than that, we continue to deal with workplaces that are not built for women, whether it’s policies like pay leave or a pay gap that, if you divide up by race, is even more egregious. 

The issues of gender inequality persist. And I’m really proud to be [a part of Girl Scouts], an organization that builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. I’m also proud that [with] my Ford hat, I’m thinking about a world that will welcome these powerful women and girls and allow them to live their fullest potential. So I love the duality of the two hats I wear. 

I’m going to be a troop leader this fall for my daughter, which is going to be a great full circle moment.

Her Agenda:And balancing those two hats comes with different leadership roles. How do you define your leadership style? When it comes to being a leader of people, what have you learned about leading with purpose? Your passion as I hear you speak this leaps through your voice. 

Noorain Khan: In the early years as a leader, you [just] do. You don’t really take a step back and decide to capture with language how you approach things. It’s kind of just who I am. I really care about inclusivity. I care about transparency. 

People are entitled to know and understand decisions and the consequences. So that really matters to me, and I enjoy it. I want to get to work. I care about impact. I really, really do. That’s what I lead with. And then I do care about the people around the table, how you’re doing, how fun this is. I mean, whether it’s your day job or something you volunteer to do, I just think life is too short not to operate in the world that gives you something. And then, what we give each other really, really matters as colleagues. So those are the ways in which I lead, and I’m constantly evolving. I love feedback. I love evolving myself. So if you had asked me that question a year ago, I probably would have had the same answers but such a different color to it. 

Her Agenda: Do you have any other advice for young professionals, especially women and [in particular] women of color, who are interested in philanthropy and social justice work?

Noorain Khan: One is, first of all, way to go! We really have to encourage people to do this work. The very best talents don’t get to be exclusively dedicated to the private sector. So whenever people want to shift into work that involves social impact, I feel that’s just like A plus, go.

Two is just don’t get dissuaded. Finding the right role to come into requires a ton of applying and interviewing. Really stick with a search and be a little open-minded about what you might be looking for. It’s important to have a sense of what you like and what you want, but [also] to be a little more expansive. 

And number three is to just…predefine your goals. Professionally, let them evolve, of course, but try to keep a sense of and be really clear on what you want to get out of a job, and what you want to get out of your personal time. I love goal setting. It’s such a powerful force for you to guide decisions [and] to help you allocate your time. That certainly comes as part of the job process, too, because you want to know what you go in for, and it may change, but then it helps you decide when it’s time to move on. 

Her Agenda: Okay, I’ll definitely try that. Looking towards the future of philanthropy, do you have any, I mean, my good old one is always world peace, but do you have any thoughts for the future of philanthropy? And how do you see your role at Ford evolving in the next few years?

Noorain Khan: It’s a real privilege to work at a place where its mission is aligned with my life’s mission. Fighting inequality is what we do, and a world without persistent prejudice and discrimination is a win for me. And that includes world peace where people aren’t experiencing barriers that we shouldn’t stand for. 

In terms of my own future, I don’t know where it will take me. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do at The Ford Foundation in these few years. I’m proud of what we’re building at Girl Scouts, a hundred-plus-year-old organization. I’m proud of what Girl Scouts is building for my daughter looking ahead. 

I’m so clear on my mission. I want to make the world a better place, and there’s a lot of different ways that can go.

Her Agenda: I actually have one more question, and then I’ll let you go. I realized I didn’t ask you anything fun. And I think that’s because we’ve been having a fun conversation about social impact, but when you’re not trying to change the world, what are some things you do for fun? Or what is a TV show you’re obsessed with right now?

Noorain Khan: Ah well, so I love having dinner parties. I love having people over for meals. Entertaining is so fun for me. I think it’s the conversation piece, like, you can go deeper. It’s the kind of thing I do where I have no idea what time it is. I don’t know what time we started eating. I don’t know where we are. I just love entertaining and sharing meals with people. That’s one thing. Since I became a mom, I’m a pop culture obsessive. I love it.

[Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]