She is the daughter of Orhan Idris Sadik-Khan (1929-2007), managing director of UBS Paine Webber, and his first wife Jane McCarthy, an environmental pioneer, one of the founders of Citizens for Clean Air in NYC, an urban preservationist, Chief Administrator Officer at the Municipal Art Society, and currently an advocate for criminal justice reform.

Orhan Sadik-Khan was born in Finland,[3] and grew up in Berlin and Cairo, son of Afghan (Tatar) parents; his father was the imam Alimjan Idris,[4] and his mother a paediatrician.

Sadik-Khan subsequently worked as deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration at the United States Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. under President Bill Clinton,[9] and she was a senior vice president at Parsons Brinckerhoff,[10] an international transportation engineering firm.

Sadik-Khan was appointed transportation commissioner by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007 and served in that role until 2013.

She is the author of the book "Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution,"[31] based on her experience as commissioner and her new role as global transportation advisor.