Jaouad was born 5 July 1988 in New York City. Her father is Tunisian while her mother, Anne Francey, is a Swiss artist.
She is an Arab-American author, journalist and motivational speaker.
After attending Julliard’s pre-college programme for the double bass, she studied near eastern studies at the prestigious Princeton University and earned a Masters in writing and literature from Bennington College, Vermont.
The journalist has gone on to publish a book, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir Of A Life Interrupted, but is best known as author of Emmy-winning column Life, Interrupted for the New York Times.
Both projects trace her journey from diagnosis to treatment to remission of leukaemia. The 33-year-old was diagnosed at age 22 and underwent three years of chemotherapy, a clinical trial and a bone marrow transplant.
At the time, doctors reportedly claimed she only had a 35% chance of survival. Since then, she’s travelled around the US speaking about her illness and appeared in a TED Talk in 2019.
When the pandemic began, Jaouad launched Isolation Journals – a platform for creatives to share their work during lock-down.
Blessing Iyamadiken loves the art of storytelling and enjoys creating all types of content from news to entertainment. She is also a feminist and very passionate about Gender Equality. In her spare time, she loves to read or binge on Netflix.
