Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is an Australian mechanical engineer, author, political commentator and youth advocate. Abdel-Magied is the founder of Youth Without Borders, an organisation which aims to empower young people to work together for positive change within their communities. Abdel-Magied has won the 2007 Young Australian Muslim of the Year, the 2010 Young Queenslander of the Year and the 2015 Queensland Young Australian of the Year.[1]

Abdel-Magied has made a number of media appearances in writing, television and radio. She has written for Motorsport M8,[2] The Age Comment section[3] and her blog, Redefining The Narrative. She has appeared on Triple J’s Hack, Clementine Ford’s podcast, 'The Misandry Hour' and Q&A. Abdel-Magied also performed a Tedx Talk, which has been viewed upwards of 3.9 million times. In 2016 she released a memoir, “Yassmin’s Story - Who do you think I am?”, in which she describes growing up migrant and Muslim in Australia post-9/11.[4]

Education

After attending the Islamic College of Brisbane for primary school, Abdel-Magied moved to John Paul College (Brisbane) for secondary school in 2003. In her memoir, Abdel-Magied stated that her father chose John Paul College "following the principal's positive response to my request to wear the hijab. Unlike other schools, which took weeks to send lukewarm responses to the idea of altering the uniform to fit my requirements, JPC quickly got back to say they were happy for me to wear a hijab as long as it was in school colours".[5] In her final year, she was elected as Senior School Vice Captain and graduated with an Overall Position 1.

Abdel-Magied obtained her Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from the University of Queensland in 2011, receiving First Class Honours.

Youth Without Borders

At the age of 16, while attending the Asia Pacific Cities Summit youth forum, Abdel-Magied had the impression that similar groups were disinclined to work together and share resources. In response, Abdel-Magied founded Youth Without Borders, an organisation focused on enabling young people to work together for the implementation of positive change within their communities.[5] Youth Without Borders’ (YWB) first project was to catalyse the development of a mobile library in Indonesia, Kamar Buku (The Book Room, in Bahasa). The program has expanded to three cities. YWB has also been involved in the following projects:

Writing

In 2016 Abdel-Magied released her memoir, Yassmin’s Story to critical acclaim. She has also written for the Formula One website, Motorsport M8 as a correspondent. Additionally, Abdel-Magied has written commentary for The Age and Junkee and continues to write her own blog, Redefining the Narrative.

Personal Life

Abdel-Magied’s full name is Yassmin Midhat Abdel-Salam, Abdel-Magied, Hassan Bey Abdel-Moneim. She was born in Khartoum, en caul in 1991. Abdel-Magied’s mother is an architect with part Egyptian, part Sudanese heritage. Her father is an engineer of Egyptian descent. Abdel-Magied has one younger brother, who is also a mechanical engineer with an interest in aerospace.

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 , Australian of the Year Awards.
  2. ↑ , Motorsport M8. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  3. ↑ , The Age. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  4. ↑ , Yassmin's Story, Random House Books.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Abdel-Magied, Yassmin. Yassmin's Story. Random House. ISBN 9780857986153.
  6. ↑ , UQ Alumni Awards Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  7. ↑ , Engineers Australia Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  8. ↑ , InStyle Australia Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  9. ↑ , Fun Fearless Female Nominations Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  10. ↑ , John Paul College Alumni. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  11. ↑ , AFR Retrieved 9 April 2016.
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