Jaylen Brown

Fan favorite Jaylen Brown has been a breakout star this NBA season, leading the Celtics’ dramatic mid-season turn-around to become one of the top teams in the league. As the drive to the playoffs heats up, Brown will be playing while fasting during Ramadan.

Malala Yousafzai

Known for her activism and surviving an assassination attempt, Malala Yousafzai continues to advocate for girls’ education. The youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner recently teamed up with Apple to create a host of new programming, from documentaries to comedies. Topping off her professional and advocacy accomplishments, Yousafzai recently got married.

Mustafa Akyol

One of the leading Muslim public intellectuals of his generation in the West, Mustafa Akyol helps general audiences explore dynamic possibilities of reforming Islam to meet the modern moment. His latest book “Re-Opening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom, and Tolerance” discusses Islam’s rich history while arguing for a modern Islamic Enlightenment.

Nergis Mavalvala

Pakistani-American astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala made her name as the discoverer of gravitational waves. The MacArthur “genius” award recipient and Marble Professor of Astrophysics now heads MIT’s School of Science. She is also known for her study of quantum measurements.

Yasmine Al-Bustami

Of Jordanian-Palestinian and Filipino heritage, actress Yasmine Al-Bustami plays fan-favorite Lucy Tara on NCIS: Hawai’i. She stars as the love interest of Kate Bishop. Al-Bustami’s previous roles include leading parts in Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals, and Dallas Jenkins’ The Chosen.

Faisal Al Mutar

Iraqi-American human rights activist, writer, and satirist Faisal Al Mutar founded Ideas Beyond Borders, a project dedicated to translating all kinds of intellectual resources into Arabic. Under Al Mutar’s leadership, the effort has already doubled the amount of material in Arabic Wikipedia, with a particular focus on human rights, women in STEM, logic, and philosophy.

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr moved to France from Senegal to advance his education, and has since published several novels and short story collections. At just age 31 he won France’s most prestigious literary award, the Prix Goncourt. His novel The Most Secret Memory of Men tells the tragic story of Malian author Yambo Ouologuem, the first African to win a French literary prize only to be accused of plagiarizing.

Roya Mahboob

Named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,” Roya Mahboob is an entrepreneur and philanthropist focused on building digital literacy for women and children in developing countries. Founder of the Afghan Citadel Software Company, she serves as CEO of the Digital Citizen Fund. She founded the Afghan Dreamers, an all-female robotics team – which she then helped flee Afghanistan following the US withdrawal last summer.

Bassam Tariq

Director, producer, and screenwriter Bassam Tariq has been tapped to direct Marvel’s upcoming reboot of the classic comic franchise Blade. The reboot will star Mahershala Ali, with Tariq at the helm behind the camera. Tariq was also nominated for a BAFTA for his 2020 film Mogul Mowgli, and earned wins at the Zurich Film Festival, SXSW, Sundance and more.

Ali Mokdad

Time and again, when media from around the globe needed a trusted voice to make sense of the Omicron wave, reporters turned to Ali Mokdad. The professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation gained renown for his team’s ability to project trends based on statistical analysis. The Lebanon-native offered a calm and collected voice during a time of great uncertainty.

Lina Khan

Anti-trust legal scholar Lina Khan rose to fame with her essay “Amazon’s Anti-trust Paradox”. President Biden named her Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, making her the youngest person to take this position. Her advocacy challenging Big Tech’s data monopoly led her to become its chief regulator.

Khadjou Sambe

Despite her family’s initial objections, Khadjou Sambe worked hard to become Senegal’s first female professional surfer. While in training for the next Olympics, Sambe also coaches girls in surfing, hoping to offer more opportunities for young girls to chase their dreams than she had.

Aziz Hasan

Brooklyn-based artist, illustrator, graphic designer, and dancer Aziz Hasan runs the popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. Under Hasan’s leadership during the pandemic, Kickstarter massively grew its impact, and helped “kickstart” innovative solutions for everything from medical expenses to housing.

Roya Sadat

Afghan’s first female film producer Roya Sadat is driving the operatic adaption of “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” the award-winning novel by Khaled Hosseini. The new opera portrays two Afghan women, brought together under Taliban rule, who must make unthinkable sacrifices as they fight for their survival. The in-production opera will premiere next year.

Khaled Hosseini

Former physician and long-time award-winning author of books such as “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” Khaled Hosseini will soon see his work adapted into an opera. His works treat the hope and pain of separation from his homeland, and have won numerous awards. Afghan producer Roya Sadat will direct the Seattle production.

Leila Fadel

After growing up in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, journalist Leila Fadel has extensively covered Middle Eastern affairs, earning the George Polk award for her Iraq War coverage. She recently became the first Muslim co-host of NPR’s flagship Morning Edition. Her fierce brand of journalism led her to host an episode Ukraine’s capital while under bombardment.

Maryam Deanna Jaafar

Queens-based beauty queen Maryam Deanna Jaafar competed in the Miss New York USA contest. Despite initial push-back from her family, who were unsure she would be able to compete while wearing hijab, she placed in the top 20 out of hundreds of hopefuls. Since then, Jaafar has also founded her own fashion line, focusing on haute couture hijabs.

Ali Parsa

One of Britain’s 50 richest men, Ali Parsa is an Iranian immigrant who founded several successful companies. His latest endeavor is Babylon Health, a digital healthcare platform that uses AI to improve access to healthcare with offerings such as virtual doctor visits. He was previously the CEO and founder of Circle Health, a popular online tool connecting patients and hospitals.

Tahereh Mafi

Santa Monica-based young adult author Tahereh Mafi released her latest novel, a sweeping fantasy of clashing empires and forbidden romance. Mafi’s books are regular New York Times bestsellers, and have earned her a nomination for the prestigious National Book Award.

Salman Ahmed

Former chief of staff for the Head of UN Peacekeeping Operations, Salman Ahmed now serves as the State Department’s Director of Policy Planning. In that role, he runs the State Department’s in-house think-tank, effectively the most powerful foreign policy strategic planning position in the US government.

Dalilah Muhammad

Olympic track and field star Dalilah Muhammad was handed the keys to Queens, alongside fellow athlete Tina Charles, for their contributions to the community. As the second-fastest woman in history at the 400m hurdles, Muhammad won both gold and silver medals at the last two Olympics. Queens Bourough President also declared October 1 Tina Charles and Dalilah Muhammad Day.

Muhammad Mohiuddin

Despite initial objections from his family to using a genetically modified pig heart on a human patient, Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin pioneered xenotransplantation, a technique adapting animal organs to human use. His breakthrough operation offers the potential to shorten the often-fatal waiting time for patients with failing organs – a lifeline for millions in urgent need of organ transplants.

Akram Khan

Bangladeshi-British dancer and choreographer Akram Khan crafted a Frankenstein-inspired dance titled “Creature”, which debuted in September. The dancer has won two Olivier Awards and a place in the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to dance. His unique style fuses classical kathak with contemporary dance.

Deqa Dhalac

Deqa Dhalac fled war-torn Somalia 30 years ago and was resettled in the US. Dhalac ran her own interpreting service for many years before entering politics. Winning a landslide 90% of the vote in a predominantly white Maine town, Dhalac recently became Mayor of South Portland. She credits her election to a decade of hard work building grassroots civic relationships.

Arooj Aftab

Brooklyn-based Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab won the Grammy for Best Global Music Performance, and a nomination for Best New Artist. President Obama also featured her music on his annual Summer Playlist, bringing new attention to her unique style: a mix of jazz, minimalism, and neo-Sufi sounds further popularizing the genre to audiences in the West.

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Abdulrazak Gurnah received the Nobel Prize for literature for his frank yet compassionate novels about exile and displacement. An emeritus professor at Kent University, Gurnah moved to the UK as a poor refugee from Zanzibar in the 1960s – a journey that inspires much of his fiction.

Shamim Dahod

Primary care physician and major philanthropist, Dr. Shamim Dahod made a record-breaking donation of $10.5 million to create the Dahod Breast Cancer Research Center at Boston University’s School of Medicine. With this and other seven-figure financial gifts, Dahod has established herself as one of the premier Muslim female philanthropists in America.

Emine Dzheppar

Journalist turned politician Emine Dzheppar is a Crimean Tatar who became Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. This position puts her in charge of the Crimean Platform diplomatic initiative for recovering control of the contested Crimean Peninsula. After the recent Russian invasion, she became a prominent and tireless advocate for Ukraine in media and social media.

Riz Ahmed

Prolific actor, director, writer, and rapper Riz Ahmed finally won an Oscar – collecting the trophy for his short film The Long Goodbye. He has been nominated twice for Oscars, won a Primetime Emmy for his role in The Night Of, and an Independent Spirit Award for his role in Sound of Metal. Ahmed dedicated his Oscar win to “everyone who feels like they don’t belong. Anyone who feels like they’re stuck in no man’s land. You’re not alone.”