Hadiza Bala Usman was born on 2nd January 1976 in Zaria Kaduna State, Nigeria. She started her education at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Staff Primary School and went ahead to complete both her Secondary and Undergraduate Studies at the Ahmadu Bello University campus Zaria with a BSC in Business Administration from 1996 – 2000. She later obtained an MA in Development Studies from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom in 2008 – 2009. She started her career with Centre for Democratic Development and Research Training [CEDDERT] Zaria, a Non-Governmental Organization following which she worked at the Bureau of Public Enterprise [BPE], the agency charged with the implementation of the privatisation programme of the Federal Republic of Nigeria She was then hired by the UNDP for the Federal Capital Territory Administration Abuja as a   Special Assistant to the Minister on Project Implementation. She later worked as Director of Strategy of Good Governance Group a Non-Governmental Organisation. She is a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari . In April 2014, she co-founded the global movement #BringBackOurGirls which has been demanding for the rescue of the 219 young girls abducted by the terrorist group Boko Haram from Chibok Secondary School in Borno State North East Nigeria. Amongst recognitions she has include being named by Financial Times [FT] amongst the most influential women of 2014, was named amongst CNN’s most inspiring woman of 2014 and also named by Ebony Magazine amongst the 2014 100 most influential black women in the world. In July 2015, she was appointed as the Chief of Staff to the Kaduna State Governor Nigeria, a position she held until her present appointment on July 11^th 2016 as the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority.