Rare Girls

Munisa Giyoeva is from Khorog, and now living in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and is a Pharmaceutical Science student in her last year at Avicenna Tajik State Medical University. Munisa loves reading books and making friends, she is an Active member of American Space Dushanbe, an Active member of AKHP debate club, and she delivered a presentation on Medicinal plants of Tajikistan in Central Asia at a Pharmaceutical conference. Instagram: @mun1skaaa

Nozanin Homidjonova is from Khujand, Tajikistan. Currently, she is a second year student at Polytechnic Institute of the Tajik Technical University named after M.S Osimi. Her major is Technology and Information Systems in the Economy Nozanin works with the Public Organization "Shams" which provides access to quality education for girls from removed areas of Tajikistan by using modern technologies. Instagram: @noza_like

Sohee Riboss is from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and currently lives in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Sohee finished her Master's degree in International Management at University of Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach and currently works as a junior marketing manager. Sohee loves badminton, drawing, dance, playing ukulele, photography, and personal improvement activities. She enjoys nature and long walks, deep conversations with people, music and watching movies. Sohee is a graduate of Westminster University with 1st class honors, an Erasmus exchange scholarship holder, and a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship holder. Instagram: @avoriboss

Maria Badanova is a Middle Eastern Slavic girl living in Montenegro and studying at the tourist secondary school, but actually would prefer to study literature. Masha also likes drawing, reading and singing. She acted in a theatre for 6 years and she is really passionate about it, although she doesn't do it right now. Masha focuses on her personal growth and on developing and discovering her values throughout the years. Instagram: @___forg

Feriel Zidane is from Algeria, and she studies in the Mathematical High School, the best school in her country. Feriel is a programmer and a game developer. She is also an artist and an online teacher of English. She really loves learning languages. Instagram: @ferielzidane

Sarah Lee Flageolle is from Quebec, Canada, currently studying criminology and psychology in University of Ottawa. She works in rehabilitation for individuals with mental disabilities and she has many hobbies such as sports (volleyball/boxing/running/etc) adventures, outdoors, hiking and travelling. Sarah Lee believes that achievements are very broad and subjective but one of her (tangible) achievement would be the acquisition of her IB Diploma from UWCEA, she studied in Tanzania for 2 years. In a more subjective way, she is very proud of the work she has done on herself, her self-love and self-respect. She has improved herself and worked towards being the best version she can be. She is also proud that she is more lenient on herself, she used to have very high expectations that would set her up very easily for disappointment but now she appreciates every little thing she achieves and feels proud of it. Instagram: @_sarraaaahhh_

Gulbegim Rahimjonova is from Khorog, Tajikistan. She received a scholarship to Aga Khan Academdy in Kenya and graduated this year. She took a gap year, working at finance right now and plans to study business administration. Gulbegim enjoys singing, football, and reading. She has been involved in many things and had a uniprep course in Khorog @uniprep , football and environment CAS in Mombasa, Girl Up, Peace Summit, as well as mental health workshops. Instagram: @rahimjonova_gul

Felicia Moiseenco is a Moldovan girl studying at “Mihai Eminescu” college. Felicia likes to read, sing, draw and to listen to music. And she loves foreign languages such as English and Spanish. She participated in a local council named “Dacia”, where they discussed about local problems and tried to make the life of teenagers and everyone better, by doing charity acts and different concerts to entertain people, and they solved a lot of problems. At her current college, she participated in various seminars for human rights and gender equality. They also engaged with these seminars in different schools and presented their ideas about these topics and had very insightful discussions. Felicia also participated in various events, such as: ”Ziua Mărului” and different competitions about Poetry recital and was part of various student olympics. Instagram: @felicia_moiseenco

Alelei Vargas is originally from the Philippines and currently lives in Dubai. Alelei studied Culinary Arts, worked as service crew in college, chef, admin, personal trainer, and now stretch coach; Her hobbies are sports, crafts, goofing around with her dog, and partying Alelei was able to tap into different industries and has successfully landed a job that she genuinely loves. She believes one of the best achievements one can have is to be happy every single day when going to your workplace. She battled her childhood asthma thru mountain climbing, sports, and now teaching flexibility classes like splits, and others. Instagram: @aleleivargas

Louise Bergdahl is a Swedish girl, the first girl from Sweden on this podcast. Currently, she lives in Dubai, and works as a sales executive for a Swedish company. Loui grew up in a poor household and worked hard to live her dream life now in Dubai. Instagram: @040.305

Yulia Manuilova is a Young European Ambassador and a law student from Kharkiv, Ukraine, currently living in Zaporizhia. At her university, she is a representative of Student Ombudsman. Yulia was an intern at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and a deputy's assistant at Kharkiv City Council. She participated in various international conferences, meetings and schools (related to leadership and women's rights). Yulia loves reading books (writers of "lost generation"), watching old movies, riding a bike and doing yoga. And she plays the piano and the guitar. Instagram: @manuylova_yulia

Nilufar Sarbalandova is from Khorog, Tajikistan but currently lives in Canada. She loves reading books, listening to music and filming and editing videos. Nilufar studied Communications and Media for a year at University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan but quit studying as she felt this is not what she wants to do in the future. Currently, she is in Canada, preparing for applying to university to study psychology since this is her childhood dream. At school, Nilufar participated in Olympiads and various school activities as well as in 3 International Exchange Programs such as Summer Exchange Program for Schoolchildren of Shanghai Cooperation member countries in China, Global Encounters in Africa and TechGirls in the U.S. Instagram: @nil_sarbalandova

Arina Tymoshchenkova is a Ukrainian girl from Mykolaiv. Arina is a dancer with 11 years of dance experience, she enjoys it very much, as well as playing volleyball and acting on the stage. Instagram: @tymoshchenkova

Malohat Rahimshoevna is from Khorog, Tajikistan, currently studying to be a doctor, Faculty of General Medicine at ATSMU. Malohat is a state volunteer, currently working in private and public clinics with the goal of delving deeper and deeper into the world of medicine. For 1,5 years, she served as a leader of volunteers in NORA Tajikistan. This year became a certified leader by IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students Association) in India. She considers her family, her education and, of course, volunteering to be the main components of her life. Her favorite creation of nature is people and she is affected by the problems of low-income people. The results obtained and the work done in the field of volunteering and medicine encourage her to continue to be who she is now. Recent conclusion: if there is no strength left, you can just take a break and stay in place for a while, but you can’t go back and give up! Instagram: @malohat_g

Shahnoza Rikamova is from Khorog, but currently lives in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Shahnoza has a degree in Communications and Media, and currently working in digital marketing. She loves listening to podcasts, drawing, painting, watching anime, spending hours on Behance, and taking long walks. Shahnoza is constantly working to improve herself spiritually, intellectually, and physically. Instagram: @shananurr

Anna Arseienko is a Ukrainian girl, and a Greenheart Alumna, currently a 12th Grade Senior in American school, finishing her education in Texas. Anna was an active participant in American clubs last year, and next year, she will study Business Management. Anna loves singing, drawing, and volunteering. And she received an Honor Medal for raising the Ukrainian flag, she received the award of excellence in drawing (her picture was selected for Rodeo), she took second place in her town Kyiv for participating in the Minor Academy of Ukraine (her topic was “Computer Slang” in 9th grade), and she was an honored student throughout her high school. Instagram: @annettesmily

Sabina Babaieva is an International Baccalaureate (IB) student, a Ukrainian girl from Kharkiv Oblast, currently living and studying in Tbilisi, Georgia. Sabina is planning to major in history and politics. And she volunteered as a Board Member on Regional Development in the European Youth Parliament Ukraine. She also traveled as an Erasmus+ scholar to Kosovo and as a member of the EYP to Budapest to discuss neutral conflict resolution and active citizenship. Instagram: @babaievaaa

Karina Domniț is a Certified Model and a content creator from Alba Iulia, Romania. Katrisha loves Writing Poems, Meditating, Cooking Vegetarian, Writing Songs, Traveling, Singing, Skincare, and creating content. She is also a Certified Economic Agent and works at a Consulting Firm in European Funds, she took part in the National Olympic in Accountancy, and constantly progressing and getting Through the difficulties of Life Successfully. Instagram: @katrishaax

Mariem Azzouz is a Member of the Children's Parliament in Tunisia, and she studies in the Second year of High School, specializing in technology. Mariem loves computer science and writing her thoughts in Arabic. Mariem is a Member of a human rights association for students, a contributor to an environmental project under the auspices of the European Union, a member of the Tunisian Scouts, and she did an ambulance course through the scouts and will take another one under the Red Crescent association. Instagram: @mariem.azz

This is the official Trailer of the Rare Girls Podcast project.

Wijdane Abdelhakim is a Moroccan girl living in Sidi Bennour city, and she is a baccalaureate of mathematic and science first year student. Wijdane really enjoys reading, writing poetry, traveling, public speaking and she works in the field of children’s rights with UNICEF Wijdane participated in the Arab reading challenge since she was 9, she participated in public speaking contests in French and in English, and won second place in Morocco. Instagram: @wijda_ne02

Fotima Shohzodamuhammadova is a Tajik girl, married and the mother of a little boy, a graduated of Social Work and has a Master's Degree in Sociology. Moreover, she studied inclusive education in India. Currently, she lives in Jordan and works for an American company named Qudos as a sociologist. On a volunteer basis, providing psychosocial support for different categories of people. She has published more than 10 articles on different topics, including migration, divorce, women's rights and other topics, in the USA, Russia, Tajikistan, and Canada. Instagram: @fotima.sh

Romina Mehrabi is from Tehran, Iran, and currently living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Romina is a Bachelors of Computer Science (2nd year) student in a UoPeople non-profit online American university. Romina enjoys programming, creating and listening to music, video editing, playing basketball, playing piano, and swimming. Romania ranked in various teenage competitions, including for playing Piano and swimming. She struggled with mental health from the ages of 12 to 18, but finally overcame it, which she considers her proudest achievement. Instagram: @rominaxrose

Milana Platonova is from Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, and currently a third year student in V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Her subject is International Relations with in-deep learning of Chinese. Milana is an activist and member of the All Ukrainian Social Democracy platform. She is also engaged in the development of the youth sector and together with her team held several events in this area. Instagram: @prezident_mp

Ritedj Trabelsi is a published author with her own book and the first Algerian girl in this project to support women and share the lives and experiences of Unique girls from all over the world. Ritedj is 15 years old, she lives in Algiers, the capital city, and she is a first year student at the best high school in Algeria, the Mathematical High School They accept only the first and the second ranked students in every city. Ritedj is a public speaker, a young journalist, tv host, radio presenter, the youngest TV Presenter in Algeria, presenting two tv programs on public television, and presenting a radio program in the Algerian radio, a writer, and a book lover. Ritedj won the first prize as the best tv host in Arab world during the Festival of Carthage (Tunisia), she won the first prize in the Arab world in Arabic competition (public speaking , poems, grammar ), the second prize in Algeria on Arab reading challenge, and she is the ambassador of Algerian childhood. She is also a young web developer, frontend (HTMl, CSS, JavaScript). Instagram: @ritedj.trabelsi

Chahd Krid is a 17 years old Tunisian girl who is a member of the Tunisian child Parliament, the representative of Tunisia in the Arab Child Parliament, the Tunisian Childhood Ambassador for Peace and Solidarity, a Radio Host and a young researcher at UNICEF. Chahd loves reading, volunteering, association work and discovering new cultures. She speaks Arabic, French, English and Italian. Chahd participated in the Arab Girl’s Summit and she is very interested in defending Women’s rights. Instagram @chahd_krid_

Mouna Derquaoui is a Moroccan girl, a member of UNICEF Advisory Committee for Youth and Adolescents, living in Khenifra. She is studying mathematical sciences. she loves reading books, singing, dancing, photography, and watching shows. Mouna is a U Reporter, a program by UNICEF aiming to solve societal problems, she participated in public speaking competitions, and took some mentoring from Y PEER Morocco. Instagram: @mouna.derq

Shahrbonu Shonazarova is originally from Tajikistan and now in DP 2 (grade 12 ) at Aga khan academy, Mombasa in Kenya. She was accepted by Aga Khan Academy and began her independent life at the age of 13. Shahrbonu loves visual arts, theatre, football, and reading. She is a residential captain in her school, the lead in the art club, and had the lead role in her school musical "Mamma Mia". Instagram: @bonu_302_04

Yeva Lysyk is a Ukrainian girl living in Poland. Yeva is an active volunteer in 3 projects, and a mentor in @engstd.time Instagram: @lysyk.yeva

Cosmina Moisescu is an Aerospace Engineering student at University Poltehnica of Bucharest. Originally from Curtea de Arges, Romania, Cosmina loves fishing, drawing, archery, visiting abandoned places and spending time with her group of friends and family. Soon, Cosmina will join a flight school to begin her private pilot license module. Cosmina faced a lot of doubt from people when she first started flying at 16 years old, and the odds were against her success, still, she understood that being a pilot is the only thing she wants to do in life. Instagram: @cosmina.moisescu

Katerina Szathmari is from multiple countries: Romania, Germany, Austria and Hungary, a descendent of the famous photographer Carol Szathmari and an economics student. She is an ENTJ, and her passion is acting. Instagram: @katerina_szathmari

Varvara Blindar is the vice president of the District Youth Council 2023 in Soroca, a Volunteer at the District Youth Council of Soroca in the Republic of Moldova. Besides school, she likes studying human rights, history, developing her digital skills and also trying to include reading in her schedule, which is really busy. She is also organizing intellectual games and quizzes weekly at her school. Varvara has participated in different projects, such as Female Leadership Academy and the Youth Parliament of Moldova. Instagram: @vvblindar

Eliza Dolly is from the Wirral, near Liverpool in the United Kingdom. Eliza loves writing; both journaling and poetry She enjoys art as a way of therapy, hiking, cooking, clubbing, spending time with her younger brothers and studying psychology. Eliza was nominated as woman’s officer for her university, Leeds Trinity University. She represented England in a conference supported by the European Union in Mollina, Spain, looking widely at changing institutions and more focussed on peace communication. Eliza also worked in Slovenia, on a project looking at the effect of the pandemic and digital activism- funded by the United Nations to run their own project within the United Kingdom- which they plan to focus on inspiring the youth to be more socially active within their communities. Instagram: @eliza.dolly

Mădălina Spivacencu is a Moldovan girl, she is the Vice President at National Student Council. Mădălina is from Hîrtopul Mic Village, district Criuleni, Republic of Moldova. Mădălina likes to write poems, reading books, playing cheese, doing volunteer work and learning about philosophy, politics, law and psychology. And she received multiple awards in writing competitions. Instagram: @madalina_11

Andreea Gabriela Ciocan lives in Braila and studies at George Valsan theoretical high school, where she is the President of the Student Council. She previously held the position of Vice-President at County level followed by Interim President and currently the Director of the Department of Culture and School Programs of the County Council of Students. Instagram: @andreea_gabrielllaaaa

Natalia Gula is from Kotelva, Poltava region, Ukraine. She studies Broadcast Announcing for Television Programs at the Kyiv Theatre, Cinema and Television University. Natasha has changed 5 cities and 3 countries in her 19 years, and after the war, she moved to study Theatre Acting & Drama as an exchange student at the Latvian Academy of Culture in Riga. Instagram: @natasha_gula

Anzhelika Yefimova is a Young European Ambassador and a youth volunteer of the United Nations. Originally from Kherson, Ukraine, she is currently living in Québec, QC, Canada. Anzhelika is studying to obtain a Master’s degree in “Odesa law academy", and took part in programs provided by the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyiv, Ukraine), the Central European University (Hungary, Austria), and the Panthéon-Assas University Paris II (Paris,France). Instagram: @anzhelikayf

Antonia Sorică is originally from Ploiești, Romania. She lived in York, England for 2.5 years, and now re-adapting to life changes as she returns to Romania. Antonia loves writing and plans to study journalism. Instagram: @antoooniaaaaaaa

Doina Elena Simion is the Events and Community Manager empowering women through Women in Tech Romania @womenintechro Doina graduated in Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics at Bucharest University of Economic Studies in Romania. She started her career in the IT industry when she was in her master’s degree. With more than 7 years of experience in software development, she played several roles within the development team starting as Business Analyst continuing as Scrum Master and Release Manager. Last year she moved from corporate to startup life, and now she is a Product Manager at Ronin, building crowdfunding investment solutions. She says that her new life is more challenging but she thinks that will help her grow exponentially. Instagram: @doina_elena_simion

Mihaela Stratan is from Călărași, Moldova, currently studying abroad Music and Design. Michelle is a musician, a singer, and she can play 3 instruments: piano, saxophone and drums. Her heart beats for music, she intends to make it her career, and in the last 12 years, she managed to collect numerous prizes at various national and international music competitions, including the UNESCO Prize. Michelle has a diverse number of hobbies including music, policy, science, geography, and traveling. Last summer, she participated in one of the projects created by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Youth Action Week: Democracy which was an unforgettable experience for her. https://www.moldpres.md/en/news/2021/02/15/21001156 Instagram: @mihaela.stratan

Bianca Izabella Raduta was born in Pitești, Romania. She has been a professional swimmer for 15 years, won multiple Romanian championships, participated in international competitions like the Balkan Junior Games and the European Championship for Senior Athletes, and she won 100s of Medals. Bianca studied Social Psychology for 3 years in the United Kingdom, then moved to Liverpool to finish her Masters in Sport Psychology, because she understands the dynamic of having a deficit in psychology when it comes to Sports achievements. Currently, she is a Trainer in a multi-national company. As she left the UK and is now living in Athens Greece, 4 years ago. Bianca has experience as a translator for the Romanian community in the UK, as a Swimming teacher, an Assistant Teacher helping kids with Autism and ADHD, as a Life-Guard, and she lived for a year in Cyprus. Bianca is a part-time content creator: Because of her skincare problems, she developed a community on Instagram focused on skincare and product reviews. Bianca likes photography, although she doesn't have enough time for it, and she loves dogs, she has multiple dogs and loves taking care of animals and her partner is a dog trainer. Instagram: @biancaaraduta

Nilufar Imomdodova is a Psychology and Neuroscience student in Lake Forest College, Illinois and is originally from Tajikistan. Nilufar is a UWC (United World College) alumna in China, Changshu, and an activist aiming to improve the qualify of life in her communities, and her hobbies is protecting homeless animals especially cats. And she is the co-founder of a social project called Varthim that aims at providing high quality resource to help human development in Tajikistan. Instagram: @nil_immddv

Nasiba Nekqadamova is a FLEX Finalist from Tajikistan, an active volunteer and currently lives in Iowa, the United States, as a FLEX exchange student. Nasiba enjoys political studies, music and psychology. And she worked as a volunteer with the US Embassy at American Space Khorog, in her hometown. Nasiba did an event called "Reggies Sleepout" where she slept outside at the Drake Stadium to raise money to support Iowa homeless youth. Instagram: @29nasiba

Yasamin Rohani was born in Tehran, Iran, lived in Malaysia and now living in Lisbon, Portugal. Yasamin studies Biology at the Faculty of Science, University of Lisbon but wants to change major because her dream is to become a Doctor. Her favorite hobby is reading, she loves books more than anything, as well as doing sports like badminton and swimming. Instagram: @yasiirohani

Carmen Jorda is an aerospace engineering student at POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest from Bucharest, Romania. Carmen loves fitness and nutrition (she is vegetarian). And she is constantly working on being outside her comfort zone and living an authentic life. Instagram: @alecarmen8

Gulrukhsor Vanjieva is a Social Entrepreneurship student at American University of Central Asia. Originally from Tajikistan, she is currently living in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Gulya is an English Instructor at Skyeng teaching the English language to teenagers and adults. And she participated in a camp to help prepare schoolchildren for university entrance exams. Gulya loves music, reading books and helping people. And she played Basketball for 5 years. Instagram: @__gulruxsor__

Alice Simtseva is a Ukrainian girl from Mykolaiv living in Vienna, Austria. Alice loves dancing, she has danced for 10 years professionally, reading poetry, playing piano, swimming and boxing. Alice won many competitions in dancing, olympiads in German language and read poetry for a big audience. Instagram: @alicesimtseva

Mohinur Amonulloeva was born in Tajikistan and currently studying finance at KIMEP university in Kazakhstan. Mohinur likes playing basketball and writing poems. While being at high school, she was accepted to 3 international exchange programs. 1. Cyprus International university summer exchange program in 2017 2. Global Encounters Winter Exchange program in Kenya Mombasa 2019 3. Iacocca International university summer exchange program 2020 Instagram: @a.mohinur.a

Miruna Dumitru lives in Craiova, Romania and studies biology, chemistry and physics. Miruna loves to cook, to read and she really adores fashion. Miruna wants to be an Entrepreneur and to inspire other women to be themselves and to grow their self-love, so she is every day working hard to become the best version of herself. Instagram: @__mirunaaaa_

Nada Khalidi is a Moroccan girl from Khenifra, and a member of CPAJ, UNICEF. Nada is an activist interested in the education rights of rural girls, and defending women against discrimination and violence. Nada adores volunteering, association work, singing, traveling, discovering new places and exploring new cultures. She also carries a special interest for animals and plans to create her animal-protection NGO in the future. Nada is currently improving her speaking skills in English as well as in Turkish and French languages. Instagram: @nadaa_a5