Maya Ghazal (Arabic: مايا غزال) is a UK-based Syrian refugee, a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, the first female Syrian refugee pilot, and a Diana Award winner.
Ghazal was born to a father who ran a fabric factory on the outskirts of Damascus[1] and has two brothers.
[2] In September 2015,[3] at the age of 16, with her mother and siblings, following the path that her father took, Ghazal fled Syria to Birmingham, UK.
[4] In the UK, she struggled to continue her education, because 16 is a legal school-leaving age in the UK, no school was obliged to accept her, and the schools did not respect her Syrian education credentials.
[5][6] Ghazal studied aeronautical engineering and pilot education Brunel University London.