Itto Outini is a journalist, writer, public speaker, Fulbright Scholar, Steinbeck Fellow, and co-founder and editor-in-chief at The DateKeepers, an international media platform.
Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The Fulbright Chronicle, ABILITY Magazine, and elsewhere, and her story has been featured on BBC. She holds an M.A. in journalism and strategic media from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
At MacDowell, Outini finalized her memoir, Blindness is the Light of My Life, which recounts her harrowing journey from rural Morocco, where she was blinded by a family member at the age of 17, to the heights of educational attainment and the halls of global power. Blindness is the Light of My Life has also received support from the Steinbeck Fellows Program at San Jose State University (2023-2024). She also developed a book proposal while in residence and conducted market research, began developing a marketing plan for the book, and networked with fellow artists and writers.
