Isra Hirsi - Environmental Activist
ISRA
HIRSI
Isra Hirsi grew up in Minneapolis, USA. Her mother, US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who campaigns for environmental social justice, has been a big inspiration in her work as an environmental activist.
When she was 12, Isra protested for justice for Jamar Clark at the Mall or America. In 2019, she co-founded and became the co-executive director of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike alongside 12-year-old Denver activist, Haven Coleman. She is now the sole executive director of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike.
Image Credit: Fibonacci Blue
At the same time, her mother took office and gained the country’s attention for achieving a series of historic firsts: becoming the first Somali-American legislator in the U.S. (2017), the first Muslim woman (alongside Rashida Tlaib), the first to wear the hijab, and first Somali American in Congress (2019).
Today, Ilhan Omar is the most famous Muslim woman in America, and Isra is following in her mother’s footsteps. In 2019, she won a Brower Youth Award, and the Voice of the Future Award. In 2020, Isra was named on Fortune’s 40 under 40 Governments and Politics list, made the Future 40 list on Black Entertainment Television awards, and gave her first TEDx talk, “Angry Black Girl”.
Story by Cécile Girardin
