Zaynab Abdi is a Black, Muslim, West Asian (Arab), Immigrant woman who is passionate about social justice and advocacy. Zaynab is a Columbia University SIPA MPA-DP candidate. Her goal is to do work in developing countries where  Zaynab worked as a Civic Engagement Coordinator with a nonprofit organization called RISE Reviving Islamic Sisterhood Empowerment and she is the incoming Leadership Development Coordinator for RISE. As a Civic Engagement Coordinator with RISE, Zaynab worked on addressing hate crimes against Muslim women and the rise of Islamophobia and served as part of the Hate Crime Coalition in Minnesota.

She also worked in collaboration with Asian organizations to address anti-Asian hate in Minnesota and globally. Zaynab was also a tool lead on the COVID-19 education campaign and Vaccine Campaign. Zaynab reached over 5,000 individuals to help them get free masks, learn about the resources out there and get their vaccines. With her new role as a Leadership Development Coordinator Zaynab is working on offering leadership workshops for Muslim women such as Economic Empowerment workshops, Healing and mental health workshops, and other self-development workshops. Zaynab was also appointed by Governor Tim Walz's office to serve in the Young Women's Cabinet where she advocated for young women in Minnesota and took leadership roles within the organization during the pandemic.

She is also an Advocate for girls’ education and has been working with Malala the Nobel Peace Prize winner where she spoke at many places including the United Nations to speak about the importance of educating girls in countries where girls are disadvantaged.

Zaynab is a Co~author in Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a Minneapolis High School and co~author of the new upcoming Graphic Novel Anthology book Our Stories Carried Us Here.

Zaynab was also featured in Malala’s new book We Are Displaced.