Yassmin’s story
Frank, fearless, funny, articulate and inspiring, Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a dynamo, a young Muslim dynamo offering a bracing breath of fresh air – and hope.
At 21, Yassmin found herself working on a remote Australian oil and gas rig; she was the only woman and certainly the only Sudanese-Egyptian-Australian background Muslim woman. With her hijab quickly christened a 'tea cosy' there could not be a more unlikely place on earth for a young Muslim woman to want to be. This is the story of how she got there, where she is going, and how she wants the world to change.
Born in the Sudan, Yassmin and her parents moved to Brisbane when she was two, and she has been tackling barriers ever since. At 16 she founded Youth Without Borders, an organisation focused on helping young people to work for positive change in their communities. In 2007 she was named Young Australian Muslim of the Year and in 2010 Young Queenslander of the Year. In 2011 Yassmin graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (First Class Honours) and in 2012 she was named Young Leader of the Year in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac's inaugural 100 Women of Influence Awards as well as an InStyle cultural leader and a Marie Claire woman of the future.
Penguin Random House is contributing royalties to Youth Without Borders.
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Stories like Yassmin's are vital to our understanding of what it means to be Australian. Yassmin's Story speaks with insight, humour, heart and urgency about belonging, unbelonging, and all the complex places in between.
Maxine Beneba Clarke
“Vital to our understanding of what it means to be Australian.”
Just like Yassmin herself, this is a big bold book with a wicked sense of humour that tells the story of the young Sudanese Muslim who arrived in Australia as a 2 year old and became an engineer, a leader and an inspiration to all of us.
Anne Summers
Indefatigable, blisteringly funny and outrageously smart, Yassmin is one of my favourite people, and this book is as brilliant as the woman behind it. Yassmin’s Story doesn't just look at what it means to be a modern Muslim woman in the 21st century, but – maybe even more importantly – how lead an adventurous life with integrity.
Benjamin Law