Showkat Ara is a Rohingya refugee originally from Buthidaung, Myanmar, who fled to Bangladesh during the 2017 exodus. Since 2018, she has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in various roles. Besides this, she is also engaged with a civil society organization (Comrades of Rohingya Youth- CRY) that works for girls' education and human rights. In 2026, she completed BRAC University's Refugee Higher Education Access Program (RhEAP) and was afterward awarded a scholarship to pursue a Bachelor's degree in English Literature at De La Salle Araneta University in the Philippines, beginning in September 2026.