Yara Sayeh Shahidi
On graduating from Harvard, Yara said, “This feels like a new chapter where I can invest time into more of what I love to do”, adding that she is ready to create “opportunities to exercise what I’ve learned and to be flexible to learn so much more.”
Who Am I?
Yara is an American actress, producer and activist. She was born in Minnesota, USA. Her mother is of African American and Choctaw heritage, and her father is Iranian. Her parents were strong mentors and reading role models, encouraging her to look at fairy tales from different cultures, political essays and dystopian fiction. It was a great way to develop a critical thinking and creative mindset. Yara says that she was fortunate, as a child, to have had a diverse range of literature to develop her ideas about the world. It was also an important foundation for Yara as she played the role of Zoey in the ABC sitcom Black-ish – a show about race and class in America.
What Am I Known For?
Despite her relatively young age, she has already caught the attention of many. She was given the opportunity to interview Hilary Clinton in 2017. Former first lady Michelle Obama noticed her achievements and wrote a letter of recommendation to Harvard University on her behalf. Yara graduated in 2022, earning a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies.
In 2021, Yara joined the Stand With Women, Dior campaign and continues to balance her acting and modelling career with her beliefs in social justice and diversity in Hollywood. Yara says she is proud to be a voice of a generation that offers ideas about inclusivity, difference and diversity. Her open-mindedness means she enjoys difference and is open to different people and ideas.
How About You?
Challenging ourselves to read books or watch films about different people is an excellent way to develop our open-mindedness.
This week, practise being prepared to be open-minded and change our minds about something we believe.
Other Amazing People (you can find them on the website)
Another open-minded woman was the amazing Ada Lovelace. She recognised the potential of what would become computers. She even wrote the first computer algorithm – 200 years before computers were built! Her story can be explored on the site.
Other Useful Resources (available on the website)
Yara exemplifies a great achiever who has worked hard to meet her goals and advocate for tolerance and diversity. In our Amazing Women of the World resource, you can read about others like her.
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Photo: Condé Nast (through Vogue Taiwan), CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia