Filled with passion to become voice of unrepresented generation and unheard communities, Bushra Amiwala, a Pakistani-American, is the youngest Muslim elected official in the United States.
Her parents moved to the US decades ago hoping better future but with little knowing that their daughter would one day bring a huge pride for them on a soil where she is a migrant.
She first hit the headlines in 2018 when Amiwala ran for the Cook County Board of Commissioners at the age of 19. Unfortunately, she could not make her way to the position but she was never in low spirit.
Her first campaign earned recognition from reputable media organisations, including TIME Magazine, Teen Vogue and The New York Times.
Excited to share my profile in American Muslim Today! pic.twitter.com/5bqZHHWGW7
— Bushra Amiwala (@bushraamiwala) February 14, 2021
Glamour Magazine also named her as College Woman of the Year for her first campaign despite she lost the election.
Again with high hopes, she, 22, ran for Board of Education for Skokie School District 73.5 and managed to bag the win, becoming the youngest Muslim elected official in the US. She now holds the seat through April 2023.
Bushra Amiwala said that her identity as Muslim woman has allowed her to become an empathetic leader.
“Being a Muslim woman in the age after 9/11 and being hyperaware of the different ways some people are treated makes me a more empathetic leader in the world,” Amiwala told wttw.com in 2020.
She said that her faith reminds her to act with humility and dignity, adding, “I represent Muslims as a whole at a national level, which I guess I wasn’t necessarily ready for”.
Amiwala has graduated from DePaul colleges and she vows to run for another political office in the future.
