12 Trailblazing Somali Women

Hornis a new publication featuring trailblazing women from the Horn of Africa. Issue 1 of the magazine, which launched last month, shines a special spotlight on Somali women. According to Horn's editor and founder, Sumaya, the project arose from a question of where the "carefree Somali girls" were being portrayed. "They most often self-identify as Muslim and African, yet are rarely ever represented in both arenas," says Sumaya. "Within their communities and households, they basically run things, but are usually behind the scenes. They are in the unique position of being black, Somali, Muslim, women, and diasporic (North American, European, etc) in communities that don’t fully accept, acknowledge, and encourage all of those facets of their being." In the following pages, Horn's Sumaya lists twelve trailblazing Somali women and why you need to know about them.

Read issue 1 of Horn. For more, follow Sumaya's street style and culture platform, styleKAAS, on Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram.

*Ed. Note: An earlier version of this article was titled '12 Trailblazing Women From The Horn Of Africa'

Hana Mire

Photo by Nidal Morra

United Arab Emirates-based independent Somali filmmaker Hana Mire is the director and producer of the forthcoming documentary Rajada Dalka. She’s enrolled in film production courses at New York Film Academy in Abu Dhabi, and has previously directed and produced short documentaries and narratives. In 2013, she won an award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival for her mini-doc, Silent Art.

Rajada Dalka is a feature documentary that incarnates the strong will and devotion of the Somali Women National Basketball Team amid an ongoing conflict. The idea for the film came about as Mire was watching TV and heard that Somalia's national women's basketball team had placed fourth at the 2011 Arab Games in Qatar. The film is slated for a 2016 release.

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Sada Mire

Photo: Sada Mire at TEDxEuston via YouTube

As executive director of Horn Heritage Organization, and one of the only known current archeologists in the region, Mire has made international headlines with her findings of ancient caves, sites, and rock art, including the 5,000-year-old Dhambalin rock art site and the 10,000-year-old Laas Geel cave art site in Somaliland.

Cold Specks

Photo: Autumn de Wilde

Somali-Canadian singer/songwriter Al Spx aka Cold Specks released her second album, Neuroplasticity, last August. She'll be touring Europe and Australia this summer and fall.

Dr. Hawa Abdi

Photo via DHAF.org

Dr. Abdi is a physician and activist who provides critical care and services in Somalia. The Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation, which she runs with her two physician daughters, is a non-profit organization consisting of a hospital, school and nutritional center. In 2012 Abdi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Iman

Miss Boss Diva is an empire unto herself. The 59-year-old model singlehandedly took her career to new heights in 1994 when she launched Iman Cosmetics, one of the most prominent makeup companies catering to black women.

Ilwad Elman

Photo via Ilwad Elman's Facebook page

This young Somali-Canadian activist works with her mother, Somali social activist Fartuun Adan, at Sister Somalia, which seeks to aid sexual violence victims in Mogadishu, as well as at the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center.

Safia Aidid

Photo via Horn

Upon hearing of the creation of a new journal about Somalis, this Harvard PhD candidate wondered why there wasn’t a single Somali involved in the publication. She soon took to Twitter to pose questions about knowledge production and narrative under the hashtag #CadaanStudies. Along with hundreds of Somali academics, they signed a petition and discussed how Somalis have been studied, treated and spoken about. That movement has since led to talks, a conference, and the creation of The Mandeeq, a collective of young Somali-demics. Safia Aidid is on Twitter at @SafiaA.

AJ Awed

Photo courtesy of AJ Awed

AJ Awed is a writer and Taekwondo athlete who in 2015 won silver at the BSTF (British Student Taekwondo Federation) National Championships.

Eman Idil

Photo via Eman Idil

Eman Idil is a journalist and producer who, after just three days as an intern for the Global Edmonton, was officially hired on as a reporter. She’s a licensed yoga teacher as well as a fashion and design student that hopes to create a style line that affords opportunities of fair employment and education to women in East Africa.

Idil Ibrahim

Photo via Twitter

Idil Ibrahim is a Somali-American writer, filmmaker and actress. She is the founder of the New York-based production company Zeila Films, as well as a contributor to Everyday Africa.

Sanna A. Royal

Photo via Facebook with permission from Sanna A. Royal

The only known female Somali-American pilot, Sanna A. Royal has been flying since 2010. She's currently working to attain her CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) certificate and CFII (Certified Flight Instructor with Instrument Rating) certificate.

Raamla Mohamed

Photo via YouTube

Raamla Mohamed is an executive story editor and writer on Scandal. She's been a part of ShondaLand for the last six years.