Houda Abadi was born and raised in Tangier, Morocco and is currently living in New York. She received her BA from Luther College (Iowa), majoring in Political Communications and minoring in Psychology, and a Master's degree from the Whitehead School of Diplomacy at Seton Hall University, majoring in International Relations with a focus in Conflict Resolution and Negotiation. While completing her Master's degree, Houda co-authored an article that was featured in the Iowa Journal of Communications entitled "Us vs. Them: US Newsmagazine Framing of Muslims", and served as a Middle East and North Africa intern in a human rights organization where she interviewed and conducted in depth case studies of human rights violations and the role of NGOs. During this same period, she acted as a liaison between the United Nations Institute of Research and Training (UNITAR) and numerous diplomats during their Arab Diplomats workshop. Following graduation, Houda served as the Director of Education in a non-profit organization that facilities dialogue between Jewish and Muslim youth internationally.