Zaynab Abdi Presents Our Stories Carried Us Here in Conversation with Dana Mortenson

A Somali girl raised in Yemen by her grandmother finds refuge and opportunity with her mother in America. Told in English and Arabic, the story is beautifully illustrated as black ink drawings.

Zaynab Abdi is a storyteller and emerging global leader. From her contribution to Green Card Voices, Minneapolis to a chapter in Malala’s We are Displaced, her story of perseverance and the pursuit of opportunities for others has inspired all who have encountered her words. Zaynab has shared her experiences and insights about girls education as a Malala Fund delegate addressing the United Nations General Assembly. She continues to work with the United Nations Development Program as a Strategy and Futures Fellow, with Reviving Sisterhood, a Muslim story telling, leadership development and civic engagement organization, and with Green Card Voices as an Immigrant and Refugee Youth Ambassador.

Dana Mortenson is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of World Savvy, a national education nonprofit working to educate and engage youth as responsible global citizens. World Savvy supports change agents in K-12 education to create more inclusive, adaptive schools that ensure all young people can develop the skills and dispositions needed to thrive in a more diverse, interconnected world. World Savvy programs provide support at three critical levels to deeply integrate global competence into teaching, learning and culture: student engagement, teacher capacity, and school and district leadership support. Since 2002 she has led the organization through significant national expansion, reaching more 800,000 students and nearly 7,000 teachers across 45 US states and 32 countries, from offices based in Minneapolis, San Francisco, and New York.

Dana is an Ashoka Fellow and was named one of The New Leaders Council’s 40 under 40 Progressive American Leaders, and Women We Admire’s Top 50 Women Leaders of Minnesota for 2022. She was also a winner of the Tides Foundation’s Jane Bagley Lehman award for excellence in public advocacy in 2014. She is a frequent speaker on global education and social entrepreneurship at high-profile convenings nationally and internationally, and World Savvy’s work has been featured on PBS, The New York Times, Edutopia, and a range of local and national media outlets covering education and innovation.

This event is FREE but registration is required. Please register using the link below.