Kharlian Awad is a program manager for the Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where she assists with contractual and financial support. Before coming to Urban, she spent two years with the US Department of Agriculture on the receiving end of proposals, as part of the grants department for Food and Nutrition Services.

A Washington, DC, native, Awad graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she studied culinary arts, nutrition, and food service management. She is a graduate student at the University of Maryland, where she is pursuing a master of science degree in management: project management.