Rasha Mahdi is Egypt's first female cartoonist and is regarded as a ground-breaking storyboard illustrator, graphic designer and creative head for advertising campaigns. She mooted the idea of setting up an organisation for Arab women cartoonists. A member of the Organization of Egyptian cartoonists and the Egyptian Fine Artists Syndicate, Mahdi has held exhibitions in Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco. She was one of the participants i a two-day Governemnt Communication Forum in Sharjah bringing together representatives and editors-in-chief of television, radio stations and newspapers, as well as columnists, researchers and students of different media majors from across the world and the Arab region. Set to become an annual event, the first edition of the forum spotlighted the Sharjah Media Centre and examined its mandate to develop and oversee communicational best practices for government institutions in Sharjah.