Samiya Azizi

Samiya was born and is originally from Afghanistan. She moved to Colorado for school after growing up in Pennsylvania. She believes that storytelling is powerful and it helps people witness the lives of refugees through the lens of humanity. She says, “Our collective humanity is bound by invisible strings and when one of us is hurting, we all are hurting. And there is no better way to get rid of hate than being a building bridge between humanity.” Since the fall of Afghanistan, Samiya has led a series of rallies at the Capitol where she speaks about her homeland and the crumbling women’s rights under the Taliban. As an artist, she paints on jackets to raise awareness for the injustices of the world and uses the proceeds to fund different charities.