Meerim Kanatova

Meerim Kanatova is a Communications and Research Project Manager at the Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders (PASL).

Before joining PASL, Meerim worked at the University of Pennsylvania, supporting academic initiatives across the Wharton School and the Master of Science in Social Policy programs through communications, event coordination, and program operations.

She earned her M.S.Ed. in Learning Sciences and Technologies from the University of Pennsylvania, where she focused on educational innovation and learning design in STEM. Before moving to the United States, Meerim spent over six years working in the nonprofit sector within youth leadership and education equity in Central Asia. Part of this work included U.S. Embassy-supported initiatives in Kyrgyzstan under the Emerging Leaders pillar, where she helped expand leadership and educational opportunities for young people. Her work also included developing digital educational media — a comic book and documentary on gender equality — that led to an invitation from UN Women Kazakhstan to share her work.

Originally from Kyrgyzstan, Meerim is passionate about building programs and stories that help young people and educators feel supported and empowered to lead meaningful change.