Meet the Arab Changemakers Featured in the 2023 Forbes 30 under 30 List
By Salma Heram / Arab America Contributing Writer
The Forbes 30 Under 30 List in North America highlights 600 of the most influential leaders and changemakers across 20 fields, ranging from social impact to science to marketing and advertising. Published annually, the list honors 30 people within each category, of which no one is above the age of 30, hence the list’s title. This year, 49% of awardees were people of color, up from 47% last year. This begs the question: how many of them are Arab, and in what areas are they excelling? Follow along as we go through each category and highlight these Arab changemakers below.
Rana Abdelhamid – Social Impact
Hailing from Astoria in Queens, NY, Rana Abdelhamid is of Egyptian origin and is the founder of Malikah. Malikah is a global advocacy organization aimed at reducing gender and hate-based violence. It focuses on self-defense training, economic empowerment and financial literacy, justice, and community organizing for promoting safety and women’s empowerment. At present, Rana and Malikah are working on building the Malikah Women’s Center, which would serve as an open, safe community center to allow the organization a physician space to continue its work in advocacy, mobilizing, organizing, and training women to promote their safety and empowerment. Aside from her work with Malikah, Rana is a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, holding a Master’s degree in Public Policy.
Yara Bishara – Media
Yara Bishara is a senior producer at NBC News, overseeing a team of video journalists and specializing in producing 30-minute documentaries. Immigrating to the U.S. from Palestine when she was 10 years old, Yara now lives in Brooklyn, NY, and is pursuing an MBA at NYU Stern School of Business. Prior to joining NBC, she worked at The New Yorker. There, she produced the magazine’s most-watched video, titled “Royal Weddings, Then and Now: Princess Diana, Kate Middleton, and Meghan Markle,” which has garnered 19 million views on YouTube at the time of writing.
Yousef Abdelfattah – Games
Originally from Palestine, Yousef Abdelfattah is a cofounder of FaZe Clan, one of the most popular professional esports and entertainment organizations in the world. First joining the group at age 14, he now lives in Orange County, California and he serves as an executive on the team’s brand meetings after the business went public last year at a valuation of $725 million. He also runs the team’s YouTube channel, in addition to creating his own content under the online name “FaZe Apex”.
Ahmed El Dani – Marketing and Advertising
After immigrating to Toronto, Canada from Kuwait, Ahmed El Dani co-founded Carte Blanche Studio in 2019, an advertising and creative agency that focuses on brand identity, design, art direction, and digital strategy. More recently, he co-founded La Mémoire, a luxury home fragrance brand, and founded Modern Museum, an NFT marketplace, and ecosystem for buying, selling, and creating NFTs.
Ali “SypherPK” Hassan and Daniela Ali of Oni Studios – Games
Ali Hassan is a Palestinian-American streamer, considered to be one of the world’s top gaming content creators. Better known by his online name, “SypherPK,” Ali lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Daniela Ali. Daniela is the head of the couple’s co-founded company, Oni Studios, which equips new content creators with all the tools necessary to succeed, including services like social media and YouTube management, live-stream development, and long-term business development plans. In addition, their brand-new 30,000-square-foot production facility offers stream pods as well as photo and production studios to allow new creators the physical space for their content to thrive.
Ahmed Elsayyad – Healthcare
Ahmed Elsayyad is the president and co-founder of Ostro, a software development company that seeks to promote health by connecting patient consumers, healthcare professionals, and pharmaceutical companies. Ostro’s software works to improve patient health by creating personalized healthcare journeys and optimizing the most relevant information that patients and clinicians receive for faster, more improved health outcomes.
Samer Abu Farha – Retail and Commerce
From Ann Arbor, Michigan, Samer Abu Farha is the founder of Rare Munchiez, importing rare snacks from around the world and selling them online. After sales reached an estimated $5 million in 2022, Samer also opened up a storefront for local buyers. With over 800 thousand followers on TikTok @raremunchiez, and 110 thousand on Instagram under the same handle, Samer continues to grow his business by catering to snack lovers worldwide with global shipping.
Arab Pride and Recognition
Gracing six of the 20 categories on the Forbes 30 under 30 List, Arabs are increasingly becoming part of the rising influential youth in North America. In coming years, we hope to see even more Arabs featured on the list, as they continue to inspire youth to be proud of their Arab heritage and to succeed through it, not in spite of it.
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