Sophia Armen
Sophia Armen is an organizer, artist, and writer working on decolonization, coalition-building, and centering the voices of women and queer SWANA people in liberation. In the shadow of the attacks on South West Asian and North African communities with the Muslim Ban, she co-founded SWANA Alliance, an anti-racist organization dedicated to fighting for the power and dignity of South West Asian and North African (SWANA) peoples. She currently is also a PhD student in Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego. She was the first Middle Eastern woman to be elected as student body president of a University of California campus in the system’s history and was the first student body president to officially co-sponsor a resolution to Divest from the Israeli Occupation, in the nation. She was the national campaign manager of the Boycott RE/MAX campaign with CODEPINK. She has been active in Students for Justice in Palestine for years and Armenian community organizations, building Armenian-Palestinian joint struggle.
Location: Los Angeles and San Diego, CA
Areas of Expertise: Student organizing; Middle Eastern-American feminist struggle; history of race and SWANA-Americans; Armenian-Palestinian solidarity
