Zaynab Abdi

Zaynab Abdi is a Black, Muslim, Middle Eastern, and immigrant author who is passionate about social justice and advocacy. In 2023, Zaynab Abdi worked with Green Card Voices and published her first children’s book Voice for Refuge in both English and Arabic, which chronicles her journey from Somalia to Yemen and Egypt, and ultimately, to the United States. Zaynab worked alongside the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, as a youth advocate for girls’ education and has spoken at the United Nations several times. She has co-authored several books Our Stories Carried Us Here (2021), Malala Yousafzai’s book We Are Displaced (2019), and Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a Minneapolis High School (2015). In America, Zaynab found both her refuge and education. Now, she uses her voice to speak out in order to promote more justice in the world. She graduated magna cum laude from Saint Catherine University with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, International Studies, and Philosophy, and from Columbia University with a Master’s in Public Administration in Development Practice.