Her Excellency Shamma Al Mazrui was appointed as the U.A.E. minister of state for youth affairs in the new cabinet at the age of 22, announced in February 2016. This made her the youngest minister in the world. Her tasks focus on representing youth issues and aspirations at the ministerial council and setting development plans and strategies for improving youth capabilities, in addition to further utilizing their energy in various fields.

Earlier, H.E. Shamma Al Mazrui worked in private equity at one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds. She also previously worked as a public policy analyst at the U.A.E. mission to the United Nations, as a ministry policy analyst with the prime minister’s office, as a research analyst at the U.A.E. embassy in Washington, D.C., and as an education policy researcher at Tamkeen (U.A.E. Strategic Affairs Authority).

H.E. Shamma Al Mazrui obtained her Master of Public Policy with distinction from the University of Oxford in 2015. She was the first U.A.E. Rhodes Scholar and ranked within the top of her class. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in economics with a concentration in finance at New York Abu Dhabi, ranking within the top 5% of NYUAD’s class of 2014. She has completed coursework at the research center for leadership and on multisector partnerships at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, at NYU Stern School of Business, and at Yale University.