أكثر من 50 امرأة كوردية ناجحة نشيطة حول العالم

So I came across a post on facebook from the kurdish activist & writer Ruwayda Mustafah (whom I love!), saying how she is Kurd and not an Arab after being listed in the top ”50 Arab Women You must Follow!” list. Reading the comments under the post I also came across this one who caught my attention.

I would like to start off by saying.. What is wrong in liking makeup & beauty products? Or love songs for that matter? Do you Only have to be good at one thing? Heck I love makeup (anyone who knows me know that). Does it make me less smart? Does it make me less of an activist?
No! I am a proud high heel lipgloss feminist as I call it!  And I am a womens rights activist in Kurdistan and I am active within the Kurdish community. Me liking makeup and shopping does not define me or the things I stand for. And I kind of felt challenged in a indirect way when I read this ”No one would make a list of 50 Kurdish women”. So I have decided to List 50 Kurdish women whom I see is successful & also in one way or another helping others while doing what they love. Showing Kurds reaping success, Kurds to be proud of Weither its sharing makeup tips to other girls, doing music, fighting for womens rights, helping children in need, running pages to spread awareness about kurds, politicians, whatever – You name it! I can name at least 50 Female Kurds that deserves to be mentioned. Some of them might be familiar faces and some might be new to you.There are 3 things these ladies all have in common wether they are make up artists or singers or writers or activists, and that is that they are all Kurdish, they are Strong Women and they are doing what they are passionated about.
And if that is not admirable then I dont know what is. It is about supporting each other and lifting one and other up in order to grow. However I do ask for people who are well known in Kurdistan and has the oppertunity to reach out to a big fanbase (through social media) to share more than just make up artists and fashion bloggers. Diversity is good, and it is important for our girls and boys to see that yes there are Kurdish women doing great things, are active & intelligent.

Here is my list of my personal fave ones of Kurdish women TODAY.
(Obviously we kurds have had amazing women throughout history up til’ now that has done more than enough for our people and deserves to forever be remembered.I have not listed these in any specifik order but simply just put together 50 Names I would like to have in the list.)
¤ Sazan Mandalawi. A 24 year old student and activist who also is well known for her efforts & work within Journalism. She writes amazing and very analyzing articles for Rudaw. For more than four years now She has been involved in training young people in schools and universities in a wide range of issues including: HIV and AIDs, sexual reproductive health, anger management, family relations, women’s rights, honour killing, early/forced marriages. She is also an Ambassador candidate at this years One Young World Conference, representing Kurdistan.

¤ Rezan Shex Dler. Is well known in Kurdistan and has made great efforts in the Kurdish community for women and children among others. She is active in social related issues and helps in many aspects and areas. She is often seen on TV on various shows to discuss the issues within the Kurdish society.

¤ Ruwayda Mustafa. I think many of us are familiar with this lady. She is a British-Kurdish writer. She has engaged in numerous interfaith dialogues to promote plurality and understanding. She also has spoken at many well known conferences, on issues related to gender, feminism, and Middle Eastern women.

¤ Zozan Cudi. How beautiful is this warrior princess?! She among our other very brave female fighters, has joined the kurdish YPG at only the age of 20. Fighting for her people, land & leader. Har biji!

¤ Mahabad Qaradaghi. A Kurdish writer, poet, translator, authoress and feminist. After many years of living in Sweden she returned to Kurdistan, just like myself, to put her passion for writing and women’s rights into work there.

¤ Awaz Daleni. A woman who also, after many years in Sweden returned to Kurdistan in order to help our youths. She opened up Amez Organisation in Halabja which helps young girls develop & discover their potentials. She is also active in helping poor children in need (Kurdistan Save the children).

¤ Tara Fatehi. A PhD Candidate majoring in Public Health, looking at the social determinants of reproductive health of Kurdish women both in the diaspora & Kurdistan. She is the President & founder of the Adelaide Kurdish Youth Society and Australian ambassador for The WHAM Project. Promoting importance of education & health among youth. I love all she has done and is doing and is well worthy of all the recognition & attention she gets for her efforts.

¤ Drost Kokoye. She is a community organizer who builds people power for social justice. She has a degree in Political sience. She has worked for the rights of immigrants, freedom of religious practice,  and the overall understanding of struggles faced by marginalized groups. She hopes that with her work she can increase the general public’s knowledge about Kurdistan.

¤ Sana Karwan. She volunteered at the Women’s Media and Cultural Center and she also worked with “For You” magazine, a volunteer project devoted exclusively to women and women’s issues. And Sana spent her summer teaching children and teenagers as well! In the past two years, Sana was a head coordinator for two international events in both Slemani and Erbil. She also volunteered with Kurdistan Careers as well as the recent Sulaimani Forum.

¤ Akhink Omer. A Registered Nurse currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing-Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Middle Tennessee State University. Akhink has been involved with several different Kurdish organizations promoting the Kurdish cause in the United States through various events and campaigns. She believes that advocacy for Kurdistan is vital in the diaspora.
She has also  been a committee member of the highly successful Kurdish Youth Festival for the past 4 years.

¤ Sazan Barzani. A Kurdish face in Hollywood. She is a fashion blogger/Influencer and aspiring her dreams in LA and inspires many young girls to never give up! She is a strong and independent young lady who has come very far. It makes me very happy to see successful kurdish girls doing so well. She was also a part of the Kurdish Youth Festival
last year.
¤ Hanna Jaff. Also one of my personal favorites! What to say about this very successful lady? She is a face well known in Kurdistan and outside. In Mexico, she’s the deputy secretary for migration at the ruling party, PRI, or the Institutional Revolutionary Party. She’s also the president and founder of the Jaff Foundation for Education. In America, she finished her studies at Harvard and Columbia, two of the world’s best universities.

¤ Dilar Dirik .She  graduated with a History/Political Science degree, with a minor in Philosophy from Jamestown College, North Dakota. She also has a Masters in International Studies from Durham University (UK). Writing is something this brightful young lady is great at and she is not afraid to be opinionated as well. She is very interested in women’s rights issues and the Kurdish diaspora.

¤ Dalia Rebwar Hassan. She has helped children in Kurdistan a lot, She visited Centeri Ruxosh where she gave gifts to paralyzed children. She also visited the refugee camp in Qoshtapa consisting of Kurds from Syria (Rojava) giving presents to the children.She is very active within the Kurdish community and has been in the swedish media a lot as well!

¤ Maryam Aljaderi. She has a master’s degree in psychology and integrate it in one of her big passions in life, her painting. She was chosen as one of 7 young talents in Sweden by Microsoft Windows 2011. She has also painted live at events for Spotify and Tedx. Once again – Love seeing  kurdish people doing good and inspire others to work hard!

¤ Delan Akrawi.  She is dedicated to help students align their competence and capabilities with appropriate employment opportunities. Through her work at the University Career Center, she has trained and provided the necessary tools to support students’ professional development. In an effort to better serve the national economy Delan have been active in creating partnerships among key entities to ensure the facilitation of education and networking in the university. She is committed to developing new programs and services that will enrich students’ employment opportunities.

¤ Hidayet Tercan. Hidayet lectures about entrepreneurship, motivation, leadership, diversity & conflict management. She is an entrepreneour, lecturer, debater and author and also the founder and CEO of Zemrete.

¤ Azhin Abdulkarim. She is passionated about youth involvement in the kurdish community and also in women empowerment. She has always been a part of initiatives in trying to promote volunteerism and civic engagement inside a society along with initiatives that have aimed at raising awareness about women’s issues in our society. She is also the Co-Founder of Vision/Rwanga.

¤ Kavout Mahy. She works a lot with NGOs & have been helping a british NGO, Nomadic Dream, to work and help different populations in Kurdistan Region. At the moment She is also creating an organization in which french and kurdish people could exchange about different subjects such as culture, business, and health and education.

¤ Dahni Morad. Helping children by providing them with materials to study, books etc. In other words – one of the few artists who uses her well known name to help others. Aside making Music, she is very active in the kurdish community and strives for a more healthier and green Kurdistan and is founder of Green Kids.

¤ Ranya Hamawandy. A young and bright lady in the city of Hawler, who is very active in helping children in need in Kurdistan and has volunteered in many projects and organisations in order to help others. Was also sent to the US at the W2W Conference in 2012.

¤ Gulan Avci. She was elected to the city council for the municipality of Stockholm, 2006. She is a politician who oftenexpresses a deep commitment for the Kurdish issue and tries to raise awareness in Sweden about the kurds, andshe visited Kurdistan summer of 2005 and wrote a series of articles for Expressen about it. Avci is also passionate about issues of inclusion and the Armenian Genocide.

¤ Sliva Cigerxwin. She is an advisor to KRG and was an activist in the Kurdish political struggle in Sweden and workes for women’s rights, democracy, inclusion and equality issues among many other things.

¤ Dilsa Demirbag. She is an author and a free lance journalist. She has been hired as a commentator on issuesrelating to integration, honor killings and women’s rights.She has also recieved numerous awards in Sweden for her efforts & actions.

¤ Novin Harsan. A Kurdish-Swedish social democratic politician and interpreter in Arabic and Kurdish. Novin Harsanis very e involved in the issues and questions of Kurdistan and kurdish rights and tries to bring as much awareness as possible here in Sweden about kurds.

¤ Gilan. A Self taught Make Up artist who has become very successful in Norway but is also well known outside of Norway. Love seeing another successful Kurd, wether it’s a man or a woman, doing what they love!

¤ Ala Riani. An Actress and Singer who is Part of the music group Dengekan, a fusion of musicians from Kurdistan and Bretagne.

¤Ala Abasi. A top chef in Sweden! Had her big break through after the Show ”MasterChef Sweden” when she decided to cook kurdish food on national TV! It was a success and more people started open their eyes for our Kurdishdelicacies. Another Kurd to be very proud of!

¤  Amineh Kakabaveh. Amineh was a so called peshmerga soldier in Iraq and Iran. At age 14, she fled from Iranunder threat of the death penalty she was given. Today she is a Swedish Left Party politician. She has been a member of the Parliament of Sweden since 2008.

¤ Ava Homa. She is a Kurdish-Canadian writer, is author of ‘Echoes from the Other Land’ which was nominated for the the world’s largest short story award Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.‘Echoes from the Other Land’ has a running theme of resistance by modern Kurdish women. The stories are told on a universal scale, depicting human endurance, desire and passion. Ava’s writings have appeared Windsor Review and the Toronto Star.

¤ Ashna Shareff is an activist, volunteer, and a freelancer. A student of MA-politics and international relations from the University of Kurdistan-Hawler.

¤ Solin Hacador. She has done an LLM in international law, and works in teaching and business consultancy fields. She is from the capital city of Kurdistan, Amed. She resides in Spain and writes for Gelawej and Kovara Jinan. Biji!

¤ Saz Goulany. A full time student at AUIS who spend most of her free time volunteering at organisations to help others. Among many, she is working for Kurdistan Save The Children and was also selected to go the the US in 2012 for the W2W Conference.

¤ Choman Hardi.Choman Hardi is a contemporary Kurdish poet, translator and painter. She did her PhD at University of Kent focusing on the effects of forced migration on the lives of Kurdish women from Iraq and Iran. She has published three volumes of poetry in kurdish.

¤ Nazand Begikhani. A contemporary British writer, poet and academic researcher of Kurdish origin, and an active advocate of human rights. She has published five poetry collections in Kurdish and Bells of Speech is her first collection in English. Two of her poetry collections have been translated into French. Nazand Begikhani is also an active advocate of human rights and is a founding member of the network campaign, Kurdish Women Action against Honour Killing.

¤ Bahar Munzir. A leading political activist in Kurdistan and is actively involved in campaigns supporting women’s rights here.

¤ Awezan Nuri. She is a human right’s activist based in Kerkuk and has joined several campaigns in Kurdistan. She is a lso a member of Pana Women’s Shelter.

¤ Soraya Fallah. She introduced kurdish beauty, fashion, inteliggence & history to  Hollywood! Another Kurdish face in Hollywood. How beautiful is she?! She recieved the 2012 ”leadership & human right’s” award in Los Angeles.

¤ Shahla Dabaghi. Have worked with children, refugees, people with disabilities, and young girls and young women who have been abused and put up with violence. Also a part of the Kurdish Feminist’s Tribune.

¤ Golale Sharafkandi a part of Kurdistan democratic Women Union. Also a much active human rights activist in the kurdish community and outside as well.

¤ Seyran Duran. Trained as an educator and high schools teachers in French, worked for five years in Turkey. Has worked as an interpreter and language teacher in Sweden.Working as Project Manager and President of the KurdishAssociation of Women in Stockholm. Where She works with projects in family counseling, repatriation, vulnerable girls, generation conflict, relationships between mothers and daughters, equality for fathers and sons etc.

¤ Ala Talabani! She is a member of the Iraqi National Assembly, is a fierce advocate for Kurdish and women’s rights. The former vice president of the Kurdistan Women’s Union. I love love love this woman. She has done such great things and is still active today! She spoke on behalf of Kurdish and other Iraqi women from the United Kingdom and returned to her homeland following the fall of Saddam Hussein. In October 2003, she co-founded Women for a Free Iraq and the Iraqi Women’s High Council. She provides leadership training at the Women’s Center for Capacity Building and has organized and chaired a number of conferences on women’s political participation in post-war Iraq.

 ¤ Avin Aso. What to say about this incredible succesful woman? A TV host and personality where she often on her show Zhn u Zhyan (Women & Life) draws attention to the issues women deal with daily. Also a big inspiration and role model for many young girls. She is one of the few women who inspires me that works in showbusiness in Kurdistan.

¤ Bayan Sami Rahman. A Kurdistan Regional Government High Representative to UK, in Leadership Council of Kurdistan Democratic Party. Also a Former Financial Times journalist.

¤ Evon (MakeUpByEvon). Has become very successful and well known through instagram and her Youtube videos for her amazing make up skills as she is self taught. She is not afraid to spread Kurdayati among her social medias and many have opened up their eyes for Kurdish beauties thanks to her ability to reach out to many people on a international platform.

¤ Barez Haji. One of Kurdistan’s leading journalist and an active women since the beginning of the rise of kurdishmedia on kurdistantv. I love her work and it is safe to say that she has one of my dream jobs at the moment.
¤ Beri Shalmashi. She is a Writer, Director, Producer AND a Lecturer. She also has a Masters of Arts in Cinema.

¤ Chilura Hardi. A activist , a feminist and also the Head of women’s radio station and centre.

Once again these are only a few ones I know of! I can name 50 more .. Thank you to every active, women or men, who does something good for themselves, our country and the people of tomorrow. It can be anything from inspiring little girls and boys to dare to have dreams and aim for them – to rescuing little children in Rojava. Lifting each other up only benefits us all as one people. We truly have some inspiring and successful men and women among us. Har bijin Kurd u Kurdistan.

If there is anyone specifik you want me to add then just comment below and I will add that person to the list.

By Taffan