Ghada Khunji was born in August, 1967 in Bahrain. She is a graduate of Parson's School of Design and the International Center of Photography's documentary program.

In 2006, she was named the Lucie Discovery of the Year; in January, 2007 she won American Photo's Images of the Year in Photojournalism award. She has received the Golden Lights Award for Travel, and several of her black and white portraits were nominated for Spider Awards.

She currently lives in Brooklyn, but travels several months out of the year.