VELA Game Changer: Rana Abdelhamid
Our VELA community is full of women who are making an impact and changing the game. We wanted to highlight these extraordinary women and the important work they’re doing. So we’re introducing a new blog series that we hope will inspire you!
We’re kicking off this new series with Rana Abdelhamid for a reason. For ten years, Rana has served as the Executive Director of Malikah, a global grassroots movement committed to building safety and power for all women through self-defense, healing justice, community organizing and financial literacy.
She founded Malikah at the age of 16 after being attacked by a stranger, who tried to remove the hijab from her head. Today, Abdelhamid and her volunteer team of women conduct healing spaces and have trained more than 20,000 women in 18 countries across the globe.
Rana’s TED Talk on building movements has been viewed almost 2 million times. A L’Oreal Woman of Worth, the youngest board member of Amnesty International USA, oh and by the way she works on Google’s Women Techmakers program too. Rana paves her own path, and in doing so changes the game for all of us.
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What has it been like to be a woman, a person of color, a hijabi in these leadership positions - both in your work around the world and working in tech?
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Thank you Rana for your courageous trailblazing. This interview has been edited for grammar, but are the thoughts and sentiments of Rana Abdelhamid. Follow @wearemalikah to keep up with their work. Stay tuned for more features from our inspiring community!