Introduction

 Safa Mostafa

5 things about me

1. I'm the middle child

2. I'm Egyptian but born and raised in New Jersey

3. I lived in Istanbul for a year, studying abroad

4. I'm a political science major

5. I'm weirdly short, 4" 10'

5 issues I'm passionate about

1. Gun violence prevention

2. Women's reproductive justice

3. Universal healthcare

4. Affordable and equitable housing

5. Defunding the police

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My favorite artist is Halimah from @artpce on Instagram; she's a new artist that creates artwork of black people being hanged in their homes; see the picture. She intentionally only paints portraits of black people for her own people because we don't necessarily know a lot of paintings of black people are portrayed positively or reflect their modern culture. It's beautiful, and while I don't own any of her artwork, decorating your space to reflect the life you want is essential. This is why most people create vision boards to manifest what they want.

I was born and raised in Jersey City, but I'm a product of Egyptian immigrant parents. When I was 18, I was working at Newport mall when the shooting happened. At the time, I was also apart of the only student gun violence prevention organization in the city. Then a few months after I turned 19, the horrific mass shooting in Greenville happened and I couldn't reach my little sister who was in Snyder, she's was okay, just told not to use her phone. I care about gun violence prevention because it's impacted me more then once. In 2020, I stopped my activism, like everyone else my mental health wasn't the greatest at the time. The burn out of providing from an empty cup is something I'm still learning to come back from. I don't consider myself an activist, more of a person who does what she can in her capacity to make her community better for those around. weather that's donating clothes or money or harrasing my congressmen by calling repeatedly to pass a bill, it's still something to better the world we live in. And that is good enough for me.