25 Women making history right now including Meghan Markle and Kamala Harris

Yara Shahidi

While you might recognize Yara Shahidi from her work on shows like black-ish, grown-ish, and The First Family, it’s not her acting work that makes Shahidi impressive. Instead, we have to look to her activism and what she has used her platform to accomplish.

Not only has she worked with the United Nations in order to create a mentorship program as part of the Young Women’s Leadership Network, but she also worked on the Let Girl’s Learn initiative that was created by Michelle Obama. (And speaking of Obama, can we just point out that the former First Lady wrote a letter of recommendation for Shahidi for college, and not just any college, we are talking Harvard!)

One of the big things about Yara Shahidi‘s activism is that she is all about using her platform in Hollywood to advocate for more diversity in Hollywood, as well as an improvement in education for girls. And we can’t forget that she is the founder of Eighteen x 18, a platform to help encourage other people in Shahidi’s peer group to get out and vote.

Basically, while we could always point to her acting work as a reason to admire Yara Shahidi, she doesn’t want that. She wants to make a difference in the world and she is using her fame to make that happen. (Talk about an iconic woman.)