Raya Bidshahri is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of School of Humanity, an award-winning online high school where we learn by having a positive impact on the world.

She has been featured by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential and inspiring women globally. Her mission is to reinvent global education systems in order to better serve humanity.

School of Humanity is an award-winning online high school where learners develop their knowledge and skills by having a positive impact on the world. Licensed in the United States, the school is internationally accredited by the Western Association of Schools & Colleges. School of Humanity replaces exams with real-world projects and offers an interdisciplinary curriculum. With learners and alumni from over 30 countries across 5 continents, it is designed to be the High School for the World.

Originally from Iran, Raya grew up in Dubai and completed her degree in Neuroscience at Boston University. She then decided to pursue her mission of reimagining education.

Raya has spoken at more than 60 conferences in over 15 countries, including COP28, the World Government Summit, Expo 2020, EduTech Asia, the G20/Y20 Summit, the Global Education Forum, and the GESS Summit. She has been sharing her expertise as a keynote speaker for over 14 years, bringing a much-needed forward-looking perspective to discussions about the future of education.

Raya was the main award winner for the Next Generation Foresight Practioner’s Award, organized by the School of International Futures. Raya was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2025 (North America), in the Education Category. Raya is a global thought leader on the future of education.