Sana Mustafa
Syrian author, activist, organization founder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sana Mustafa is a US-based Syrian refugee, author, activist and non-profit founder.[1][2]
Bard College
Co-authoring We Are Syrians
Sana Mustafa | |
|---|---|
Mustafa in 2017 | |
| Born | Syria |
| Alma mater | Damascus University Bard College |
| Known for | Co-founding Global Refugee-Led Network Co-authoring We Are Syrians |
Mustafa co-founded the Network for Refugee Voices (which later became the Global Refugee-Led Network) and co-authored We Are Syrians.[1][2]
Early life
Mustafa was born in Syria and studied business and marketing at Damascus University.[3][4]
Arrest, escape from Syria
She was arrested in 2011 during Syria Civil War.[5][4]
Mustafa visited USA in the summer of 2013 on a U.S. State Department funded a six-week fellowship that took her to Washington D.C. and Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.[5][4] In July 2013, while she was in USA, her father Ali Mustafa a prominent business person and political activist opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was abducted by the Shabiha.[5][3][4] She has not heard from her father since the abduction.[5][3][4]
While she was still in USA, she applied for and received asylum.[5][6][3] Meanwhile, her mother Lamia Zreik and two sisters fled Syria for Gaziantep, Turkey from where they also applied for asylum to USA.[3][5]
Education, early life in USA
Mustafa moved into an apartment in Hudson Valley; her plans for her family to join her in the United States were thwarted by Donald Trump's refugee policies.[5] Her older sister Wafa left Turkey for Germany.[5]
In New York City, Mustafa worked in a restaurant, as an Arabic tutor, and as a live-in babysitter.[5][3] She won a scholarship to study political science at Bard College and organized the conference From Surviving to Thriving: Syrian Refugees Speak.[3][7]
Her mother and younger sister moved to Canada.[6]
Advocacy and writing
In 2017, co-authoring with Naila Al Atrash and Radwan Ziadeh, she wrote We Are Syrians.[2][8][9] Her 2019 Ted Talk spoke about the need for inclusion of refugees in policy solutions.[10] Her frustration with the lack of inclusion preceded her co-founding the Network for Refugee Voices[11] and attending the United Nations global refugee summit in 2019.[1][12] Network for Refugee Voices later became the Global Refugee-Led Network.[13]
In 2020, Mustafa worked as the Associate Director of Partnerships and Engagement at Asylum Access in Canada,[14] in 2022, she was the CEO.[15]