Sham Jaff is an award-winning journalist based in Berlin, Germany. Born in Slemani, Kurdistan (Iraq), she moved to Germany at the age of nine and has since built a career amplifying underrepresented voices across borders.

She has been the host of several podcasts that explore migration and racism in Germany and Europe—always centering the perspectives of those most affected. Since 2014, she’s been writing What Happened Last Week, a much-loved weekly newsletter that curates news and perspectives from Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Her work has appeared in The Guardian, ZDF, taz, Der Freitag, Deutschlandfunk, and many other media outlets and podcasts. She’s also shared her expertise as a mentor at the Journalism Innovators Program at Hamburg Media School.

Sham serves on the board of the Bonn Institute for Journalism and Constructive Dialogue, where she also worked as Senior Advisor for Strategy. Currently, she leads strategy and fundraising at Neue Deutsche Medienmacher*innen, a nonprofit championing more diversity and inclusion in Germany’s media landscape.