Conversations with Community | The Responsible Children of Immigrants

Register here to attend virtually.

Please join writers and storytellers of East African descent in this engaging conversation about the struggles of young professionals who are children of immigrants: how they grapple with managing ongoing financial problems, relating to parents who have not experienced class movement, and having to provide for relatives back in their home country, while also struggling with their own financial obligations here in America.

This event takes place both in-person and virtually. You can register for either option above.

A More Than a Single Story Panel Conversation in partnership with The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. This panel is a part of the Our Stories, Ourselves: Conversations with Community series.

PANELISTS

Ayaan Adan is a UX designer, author, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where she earned a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology. Her design philosophy centers a human-centered approach that values collaboration and quality. Ayaan is an avid writer and storyteller. Her newest book, Daughters of Arraweelo: Stories of Somali Women was published by MN Historical Society Press in February 2022. She curates a blog and is working on her second book.  As an advocate for privacy, civil liberties, and accessibility, she is committed to making a positive impact in the lives of others through storytelling. 

Salma Ahmed is a community organizer and storyteller. Originally from Minneapolis, Salma has 8+ years of experience with community organizing in regards to racial justice, Islamophobia, and restorative justice. Salma is the co-founder ans executive director of REDACT: a Muslim-led organization that supports our incarcerated community through letter writing, mutual aid, advocacy, and re-entry. REDACT also works to support Muslims unfairly targeted and prosecuted by the racist and Islamophobic policies of the war on terror. Salma holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology of law, criminology, and deviance from the University of Minnesota and is working toward pursuing a JD to further strengthen her advocacy efforts. 

Marian Gass is a 1st-grade teacher at Alice Smith Elementary. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health and Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Hamline University and Master’s in Education, also from Hamline. She is in her third year teaching in the Hopkins School District after two years teaching early childhood education. She has a true passion for working with our youngest learners! Helping each child progress in all areas of their development—academic, social, language, and motor—is a challenge that she is honored to accept daily. She strives to create a community of learners and help shape the next generation.

Soliman Soliman was born in Sudan to a Nubian tribe called Sultan’s Stone. He grew up in Cairo, Egypt, a city of ten to twelve million people that is rich in diversity with folks with different backgrounds, beliefs, cultures and traditions. By the age of 16, he had been to four countries. He was influenced by African/Arabic traditions, Japanese anime and eastern cultures. These personal experiences and moments helped develop a curiosity in him to navigate between cultures, norms, social landscapes, societies and to exhibit these intersections through different mediums of art. Mainly, Poetry, painting, photography, and haircutting. These mediums aid him to grasp the movements, diverse cultures, traditions, and translate them to a common denominator. 

MODERATOR:

Suleiman Adan is an organizer, educator, writer and DEI trainer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is HR manager at Research in Action, a Black-owned community education research firm. Suleiman is also a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, studying Education Psychology. He coordinates a food pantry in Saint Anthony, MN on the weekends, and teaches at Northwest Islamic Community Center where he works with students of all ages on learning the Arabic Language, learning the Quran both in Arabic and English, and interfaith dialogue. Suleiman has also been managing a tutoring company for the last decade on increasing literacy and proficiency in math and science, and instilling the love of reading and writing in BIPOC youth in south Minneapolis.