Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show Dr. Xanthe Scharff, Ph.D. - Managing Director for External Affairs and Editor-at-Large, The Freedom Fund - Towards A World Free Of Slavery
January 2026 marks National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the United States ( https://www.state.gov/national-human-trafficking-prevention-month/ ) and the 100th anniversary of the 1926 Slavery Convention that intended to abolish slavery worldwide. But, the highest number of people ever recorded are currently trapped in modern slavery.
Dr. Xanthe Scharff, Ph.D. is the Managing Director for External Affairs and Editor-at-Large at The Freedom Fund ( https://www.freedomfund.org/person/xanthe-scharff/ ), a global fund seeking to end modern slavery, acting as a catalyst, working in the countries and sectors where it is still highly prevalent, and she leads development and communications efforts and serves as an ambassador for the organization in the United States.
Dr. Scharff is a media executive, nonprofit founder, and journalist with a deep commitment to centering the stories and leadership of people on the frontlines of change. She co-founded The Fuller Project—the global newsroom dedicated to groundbreaking journalism about women—while reporting in Turkey and on the Syrian border in 2014. Under her leadership, The Fuller Project drove large-scale policy change, won 39 industry awards, and investigated trafficking and workplace exploitation in Somaliland, Lesotho, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Bangladesh.
Dr. Scharff is the founder and board chair emeritus of Advancing Girls’ Education in Africa, an education nonprofit that provides scholarships and peer mentoring in Malawi. The National Association of Black Journalists gave her the Salute To Excellence Award in ‘24 for magazine reporting about the girls that inspired her to start the nonprofit.
Dr. Scharff is the former deputy of the Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution, where she helped advance education policies that impacted billions of dollars in development spending. She has received distinguished alumni awards from Tufts University, The Fletcher School and National Cathedral School; was named top 40 under 40 by the Center for Leadership Excellence; and received a Genius Grant for climate journalism from the HGB Foundation.
Dr. Scharff’s and her teams’ work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, TIME, The Associated Press, Politico, Reuters, The Guardian, The Washington Post, CNN, The Telegraph, USA Today, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, the BBC and beyond.
Dr. Scharff has BA in International Affairs and Latin American Politics, from New York University, and a Master of Arts (M.A.) in International Relations and Affairs and a Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, in International Security, Human Security, and International Development, both from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
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