Emi Mahmoud

Emi Mahmoud is a poet, activist and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador who won the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam championship. Since 2018 she is UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. Originally from Sudan, Mahmoud moved to Yemen then the United States as a child.

Since high school, Mahmoud has also been an activist advocating for attention to the continuing violence in Sudan. She was on the BBC's 100 Women list of "the most inspirational women across the world in 2015," and she was invited to a 2016 roundtable with President Obama when he visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

In 2016 she recited a poem in front of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Also in 2016, she launched a campaign at the 'Laureates and Leaders Summit' in New Delhi.

Mahmoud released her first book of poems, entitled Sisters' Entrance in 2018.

In June 2018, she opened TEDxKakumaCamp, the first ever TEDx event in a refugee camp. Emi uses her work and talent to raise awareness about refugees, notably including Boy in the Sand and Head over Heels. In 2015, she won the Individual World Poetry Slam championship for her poem Mama, a tribute to her mother.

She has witnessed UNHCR’s frontline work in the field, having spent time with Syrian refugees in Zaatari and Azraq camps in Jordan in 2018. She has also traveled to Greece and Uganda – in the latter, she led poetry workshops.

Emi has represented the UNHCR at multiple high profile events, such as the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society in Paris, the Youth Strategy 2030 launch at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and the Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize event.