Rana Abdelhamid

Rana Abdelhamid is a community organizer and social entrepreneur from Queens, New York. She is the founder of Hijabis of NY. Her work as founder of WISE has led to coverage in AJ+, a L’Oreal award, and features in Teen Vogue, BBC, and HuffPost. WISE is [1] a self-defense, leadership and entrepreneurship program for young women in New York City,[2] other cities in the United States,[3] and internationally.[4]

Rana Abdelhamid
Abdelhamid speaking at a "Families Belong Together" rally on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, June 2018.
Alma materMiddlebury College
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
OccupationBoard Member, Amnesty International USA
Founder, Hijabis of NY
Founder, WISE
TitleInternational Youth Advocate
Awards2014 Harry S. Truman Scholar
2015 UNAUSA Leo Nevas Human Rights Youth Award
Running Start Rising Political Star

Childhood

Abdelhamid is of Egyptian descent and grew up in New York.[5] She has 3 siblings, named Omar, Mohammed, and Jenna. As a child, she studied karate.[3]

Youth activism and education

Abdelhamid later became a dedicated shotokan karate martial artist. She holds a black belt in Tai Chi karate.[6]

She first pitched her idea for the a self-defense class with women teaching women to her imam at the Queens Community Center when she was sixteen.[7] This was after she had been attacked on the street by a man who tried to take off her headscarf.[2] The class was rejected, but Abdelhamid continued to try and finally held her first class for Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE) in 2010.[7] Since then, WISE chapters were created in other parts of the United States and internationally, in Edinburgh, Dublin and Madrid.[4] The program grew to incorporate a summer camp in New York called Mentee Muslimah.[8] Abdelhamid describes creating WISE as "part of her 'healing process,'" according to Elle.[5] She told National Catholic Reporter that so-called "hijab grabs" are a common experience for Muslim women.[9]

Abdelhamid attended Middlebury College as a Posse Foundation Scholar, where she majored in international politics and economics.[10] At Middlebury, she and others organized a local chapter of Amnesty International USA.[10] After graduating from Middlebury,[11] she attended Harvard Kennedy School of Government,[3] after earning a Harry S. Truman Scholarship.[10] She is a recipient of the 2015 UNAUSA Leo Nevas Human Rights Youth Award, and the Running Start Rising Political Star.[12]

Human rights activism

Abdelhamid was involved in organising mass mobilizations and international solidarity. She received her training both through grassroots practice and under Dr. Marshall Ganz, having studied public narrative and organizing at the Kennedy School. During the Arab Spring she was involved in mobilizing Arabic diaspora communities in solidarity with grassroots activists. After the Trump Muslim Ban executive orders were issued, Rana supported organizing thousands of people across Boston for the 20,000 person Copley Square protest and spoke alongside the likes of Senator Elizabeth Warren. After the death of Nabra Hassanen, Rana and her team worked to mobilize tens of thousands of people across ten cities in under 24 hours for vigils in her remembrance and prayer.

In 2014, she started a social media project called Hijabis of New York in order to "humanize and diversify the public narratives of Muslim women who wear hijabs," according to PBS.[13] The project is hosted on Facebook and takes the form of interviews conducted by Abdelhamid accompanied by photographs from various professionals.[13] In 2017, she and Maryam Aziz of WISE, along with Robie Flores and Alison Withers created a Self-Defense Starter Kit, which includes online resources and videos for Muslim women.[14]

Personal life

Rana speaks Arabic and Spanish.[15] As of 2019, Rana was employed at Google Cloud and lived in San Francisco.

References
  1. "Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE) – The Harvard Innovation Labs". The Harvard Innovation Labs. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  2. Weiss, Suzannah (January 1, 2016). "Rana Abdelhamid's Women's Initiative for Self-Empowerment Teaches Self-Defense While Combatting Islamophobia". Bustle. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  3. Zoll, Rachel (December 20, 2015). "U.S. Muslim Women Debate Safety of Hijab Amid Backlash". The Brownsville Herald. Retrieved June 30, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Rana Abdelhamid – Amnesty International USA". Amnesty International USA. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  5. Rodulfo, Kristina (January 13, 2016). "Why Young Muslim American Women Are Fighting Back". ELLE. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  6. Gebreyes, Rahel (March 14, 2016). "WISE Founder Teaches Muslim Women Self Defense To Protect Against Hate Crimes". HuffPost.
  7. White, April (May 16, 2016). "Stand and Deliver". Middlebury Magazine. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  8. "Once accosted for her hijab, 22-year-old woman now teaches Muslim empowerment". Daily News & Analysis. December 31, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  9. Fiedler, Maureen (December 30, 2016). "The religious implications of the Trump election". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  10. "Middlebury Scholar Wins Truman Scholarship". Posse Foundation. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  11. "Accosted for her hijab in New York, Rana Abdelhamid now teaches Muslim empowerment". The Economic Times. December 31, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  12. "Rana Abdelhamid". carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  13. Sarabia, Alexandra (February 4, 2016). "Meet the women of 'Hijabis of New York'". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  14. McNamara, Brittney. "This Self-Defense Toolkit Will Prepare You for ANYTHING". Teen Vogue. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  15. "Rana Abdelhamid: Young Muslim Empowering US Women". About Islam. October 19, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
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