F4D’S Goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East

Afef Jnifen

Afef Jnifen was born in Tunisia, the fourth of six children. Her father was a Tunisian ambassador to various Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq, Libya and Lebanon, before becoming Minister Plenipotentiary for the bilateral relations between Tunisia and Libya.

She settled in Italy, where she began collaborating with noted magazines Vanity Fair and Panorama. Her columns are enthusiastically perused by millions of Italian women every week.

Between 1996 and 1997, Jnifen attracted considerable attention for her appearances on Italian television shows. Her strong character and courageous statements on a number of topical political issues rapidly made her a well-known public figure in Italy.

She started her career with Rai 1, and went on to present a number of programs on various Italian channels about culture, diversity, minority rights and women's rights, bridging cross-cultural divides between Europe and Middle Eastern countries. In 2004, she presented the Le Iene Show on Italia 1, then shortly afterwards La Grande Notte on Rai 2. Her contribution to this prime-time program was rewarded with a Television Oscar in March, 2007. In 2009, Jnifen started work on a new project for an international television channel: Nessma TV Arabic.

Jnifen also had a taste for acting, and in 1999 she took part in Alberto Sironi's telefilm Il Ladro Di Merendine (The Snack-time Thief).

She has been a L’Oréal Paris Ambassadress and a face of L'Oréal since 2008.

Jnifen also became an advocate for civil and human rights, making good use of her celebrity to further various humanitarian causes. She is currently an Ambassadress for Action Innocence, a private voluntary organization that helps to protect children’s dignity and integrity on the web against the risks of pedophilia and sexual abuses. In the past, she cooperated with Telefono Azzurro and worked for Inter Campus, an organization that gives back the right to play to thousands of needy children, using the values of sports and the game of football as educational tools.  She joined F4D officially in 2017 as a Goodwill Ambassador to the organization.