Fourati was born in Lille, France, on 13 May 1987. She moved to her native Tunisia with her family when she was two months old, growing up in the coastal town of La Marsa in Tunisia. Fourati's mother, Dora Bouchoucha, is a Tunisian film producer, and her father, Kamel Fourati, is a radiologist in Tunisia. Her paternal grandfather, Mohamed Fourati, was a cardiologist and a pioneer of heart transplant surgery in Tunisia. Her paternal grandmother, Michèle Roly, is French and a native of Lille in northern France. Fourati has a younger sister, Maleke Fourati, who is a PhD candidate in Development Economics at the UNSW Business School, in Australia. Fourati attended a French high school in Tunisia and began modelling after graduation. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Paris, to study at the Paris-Sorbonne University. Fourati graduated with a Bachelor in Literature and Fine Arts in 2008. She then moved to London to study filmmaking at Kingston University, London where she continued modelling Fourati graduated with a master's degree in Film/Cinema/Video Studies in 2010. Fourati has said that she has wanted to become a director since she was young. She has been studying acting at the New York Film Academy since 2011. Fourati speaks Arabic, English, French and "a little bit of Italian". She has dual French and Tunisian citizenship.
In 2002, Fourati finished in third place in the Elite Model Look competition at the age of 15 and signed with Elite Model Management. She has appeared in numerous international magazines, such as Vogue Paris, Elle, Marie Claire, L'officiel Voyage, Grazia, and GQ. Fourati has walked the runway for major fashion houses, including Armani, Céline, Gianfranco Ferré, Jean Paul Gaultier, Stella McCartney, Tommy Hilfiger, Valentino and Vivienne Westwood. In 2005, she appeared in the French film Frankie alongside Diane Kruger. In October 2010, with Tunisian actor Dhaffer L'Abidine, Fourati co-hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Carthage Film Festival. In November 2013, Fourati launched her own women's fashion line in Tunis, Tunisia. Her clothing line included a range of printed T-shirts; long, sheer dresses; and oversized, long-sleeved tops. The fashion line was designed in New York by Fourati who was assisted by a pattern-maker; and manufactured in her home country of Tunisia. The By Kenz blog is no longer available and the Facebook Fanpage has not been updated since March, 2014.
''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'', 2011
Fourati appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2011. In an interview with Global Grind, Fourati said, Following the Tunisian Revolution, Fourati became an advocate for artistic expression in Tunisia: As the first Arab Muslim model to be featured in Sports Illustrated, she raised debates in Tunisian society and abroad about what it means to be Muslim and about variety within the religion.
In August 2011, during the Muslim month of Ramadhan, Fourati appeared in a bikini and body paint on the cover of Tunivisions, which created controversy. In a 2012 interview, Fourati was critical of the magazine, saying:
Participation in the Tunisian Revolution (2010–2011)
Though she was living abroad at the time, Fourati participated in Tunisia's four week Jasmine Revolution that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The revolution which began on 18 December 2010, culminated with the flight of Ben Ali and his family on 14 January 2011. Fourati was critical of the position the French government took, saying: Of her involvement, Fourati said:
Personal life
Fourati has lived in Tunisia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. She currently resides in New York. During a 2011 interview, Fourati compared her experience of living in France with the United States: Asked about her experience living in France, Fourati said: Fourati dated the R & B singer Ryan Leslie and appeared on several of Ryan's music videos. On 26 April 2016, Fourati married Ayman Mohyeldin, a television journalist for NBC News, in an intimate ceremony in his home state of Georgia. She shared photos from her wedding day on social media. Fourati wore an ivory bridal burnous over an ivory Balenciaga mini-dress for the ceremony in Marietta, Georgia. For photos taken in Savannah, Georgia, Fourati wore a custom Houghton "Moss" Gown. Fourati revealed in a "Vogue Arabia" interview that she was expecting her first child with husband, Ayman Mohyeldin, in early 2017. Their daughter, Dora Fourati Mohyeldin, was born in New York on 12 March 2017.
