Nafisa Ali

Nafisa Ali was born in Kolkata, the daughter of Ahmed Ali, a Bengali Muslim man and Philomena Torresan, a Roman Catholic woman of Anglo-Indian heritage. Nafisa's paternal grandfather, S. Wajid Ali, was a Bengali writer. Her paternal aunt (father's sister) was Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, a Pakistani journalist. Nafisa is also related to the Bangladeshi freedom fighter and soldier Bir Pratik Akhtar Ahmed. Nafisa's mother later moved to Australia.

Nafisa attended La Martiniere Calcutta, where she was a House Captain. She has also studied vedanta taught by Swami Chinmayananda, who started the center Chinmaya Mission of World Understanding.