Rama Yade

About Rama Yade

Rama Yade has established herself as a leading voice in diplomacy and human rights, both in France and on the international stage. Today, as Director for Africa and Senior Fellow for Europe at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, she continues a career that began in the French Senate and led her to the highest levels of government.

A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, Yade began her career as a senior civil servant in the French Senate, where she became deputy director of programming and later director of communications for the television channel Public Sénat.

At the age of thirty, she was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights of the French Republic, a newly created post under the Fifth Republic. She became the first African immigrant woman to join a French government. In recognition of her work, she was Nelson Mandela’s personal guest at his ninetieth birthday celebration in Johannesburg. She went on to serve as Secretary of State for Sports and later as France’s Ambassador to UNESCO.

After more than a decade in French politics, Yade moved into the private sector, working as a publisher in London and later as development director for a French consultancy, before joining the World Bank as a consultant. She also teaches at Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique in Morocco and at Sciences Po Paris.

Yade is the author of eight books, including Noirs de France, Les droits de l’homme expliqués aux enfants de 7 à 77, Lettre à la jeunesse, Plaidoyer pour une instruction publique, Carnets de pouvoir and Anthologie regrettable du machisme en politique. Her latest book, drawn from her experience in America, Les leçons de l’Amérique, Nation et Puissance, was published in late 2024 by L’Harmattan.

From a decade at the top of French government to her current role in Washington, Rama Yade embodies a rare trajectory, one shaped by diplomacy, a commitment to human rights and influence on the international stage.