Saint Paul, MN — Amira Adawe is on a quest to redefine beauty. She aims to end skin-lightening practices that both expose people to toxic chemicals and harm their identities. An immigrant from Somalia, she understands that people around the world often feel pressure to lighten their skin to fit into dominant Western society. Recently, she led a successful effort to influence Amazon to stop selling skin lightening creams. Now, she wants to create a worldwide effort to end the narrative of colorism with young girls. To lead change on a global scale, she will study the makers of skin lightening products to better understand their marketing strategies and build a network of other organizations around the world focused on this issue. She will also pursue training to build her facilitation and executive leadership skills.
