A Love for Education and Service

Most of us can remember at least one teacher who encouraged us to keep going. Teachers not only educate us but they are changemakers in our lives. Aanya Niaz has dedicated her life to ensuring people around the world have access to quality education.

Niaz is originally from Pakistan, where she has worked with international organizations like Idara Taleem-o-Agahi, The History Project, Beaconhouse, and the United States Agency for International Development. Her work has involved curriculum development, teacher leadership, education policy, and more.

When Niaz talks about impact, her eyes light up. She has many fond memories of the beginning of her career like when she was approached by Teach for America while earning a bachelor of arts degree in foreign affairs and global development studies at the University of Virginia. 

While in undergrad, she served as president of the Pakistan Student League and vice president of the Global Development Organization where she led initiatives that fostered cross-cultural understanding and international collaboration. 

Niaz always knew she wanted to be of service to others, and she saw education as a pathway to do that. She eventually expanded into research and policy to make an even bigger impact in education. 

She led the creation of the first English as a foreign language curriculum for pre-primary students at The Citizens Foundation in Pakistan. 

“We told stories in the new curriculum, building characters based on local contexts we spent weeks becoming familiar with,” she said.

For one year, Niaz also taught with Raise The Children International in South Africa where she focused on the needs of orphaned students from rural communities. 

She went on to complete a Master of Science in Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford. There, she remained engaged in public service and student advocacy, participating in the Oxford Union and serving as a co-class representative. 

Up to $100 Million Towards Advancing Education 

Everywhere Niaz goes she likes to have other people’s well-being in mind even in her current role as the Global Education Equity Leader at Amazon Web Services. 

Amazon Web Services has been around since 2006 and is a cloud computing platform offered by Amazon that provides on-demand access to access to over 200 services, including machine learning and artificial intelligence. It also serves different sectors like education, healthcare, government, media, and more.

The AWS Education Equity Initiative was recently announced, where Amazon Web Services has committed up to $100 million in cloud credits to help qualifying education organizations around the world build or scale digital learning solutions for underserved learners.

Access to knowledge isn’t always easy to come by, and Niaz is working to help close that gap through her work with the Education Equity Initiative  Amazon Web Services. 

“Let’s do the work now,” said Niaz. “Let’s set the narrative for ourselves.”

Niaz’s work has always revolved around serving students, educators, and communities through education, both in a social impact and a commercial lens. 

Alongside her role at Amazon Web Services, she is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, where her research focuses on the role of artificial intelligence in education within global majority contexts.

Improving Access Worldwide

Niaz is working to bring more access to cloud technology to underserved learners. She focuses on serving others by equipping sales teams with the tools and knowledge they need to introduce the AWS Education Equity Initiative in ways that truly benefit their customers. 

Niaz said she spends time listening to customers from around the world to understand where they are on their impact journey and how the AWS Education Equity Initiative, or other social impact initiatives from Amazon Web Services’ broader impact portfolio, can help them innovate, scale, and reduce costs.

“We don’t mandate a solution for them to use. Instead, we believe our customers know best and do what we can to uplift them through technology,” said Niaz. “…by making AI services accessible, we recognize we need to meet our customers where they are.”

Internally, she works across teams to continually improve how the AWS Education Equity Initiative supports its communities to advance access and opportunity, which includes streamlining processes, enhancing communication, offering technical assistance, and lifting up customer impact through storytelling and global thought leadership opportunities.

One example is Tangible Africa, a coding program in South Africa that doesn’t rely on computers or internet access. Backed by the AWS Education Equity Initiative, it reached over 32,000 students last year through its #Coding4Mandela campaign. 

Niaz said she is committed to using her voice to highlight how artificial intelligence can improve education and help more people get access to technology. She often shares this message at events in her community and around the world.

“Can I make a difference? Does my voice matter? Yes,” said Niaz. “Amazon empowers me to think that.”

Applications for the AWS Education Equity Initiative are open all year round and are processed quarterly.

This article is part of our monthly Amazon series highlighting the human beings behind the company. This news coverage is sponsored by Amazon.