ZIAD AHMED
UNITED STATES, 18
PROJECT: REDEFY
BASIC HUMAN NEEDS: EDUCATION
Growing up as a Muslim American, Ziad is disappointed in the hostility towards the Muslim community that occurrs on a societal level. Ziad founded Redefy to create an active community that embraces acceptance and tolerance. Through student workshops, community events and youth-targeted campaigns, they raise awareness and understanding to positively redefine perspectives. This past December, he organized a conference at Princeton University that gathered more than 200 young attendees to learn about pressing social issues from 12 prominent activists. Attendees had the opportunity to learn from them in small workshops on creating meaningful discourse to drive change. Redefy has directly engaged thousands of young attendees with events like these, and reached hundreds of thousands online with stories that reveal the consequences of ignorance and intolerance. Already leading a team of 250+ teens in 20 countries, Ziad plans to grow his team to 1,000 youth this year. He hopes that Redefy continues to grow as a hub for global youth social justice activism.