Back to All Events

Putting PakAms on the Map: How Faith Shapes Voting

image.jpg
 

The APF Get Out the Vote team and Dallas-based podcast “Authentic + Unfiltered” with Farheen Raza present a collaborative miniseries on what holds our communities back from voting and how we get on the map.

In this third and final episode of "Putting PakAms on the Map," our guests are Essam Choudhary, APF National Leadership Council member and Chicago-based community organizer, and Bushra Amiwala, the youngest Muslim American and Pakistani American to hold elected office in the United States. Essam and Bushra tackle how our faiths can shape our identity and our vote as Pakistani Americans.

Speakers

Bushra Amiwala is the youngest Muslim elected official in the United States. At the age of 19, she announced her candidacy for the Cook County Board of Commissioners, with the goal to serve as a voice for her underrepresented generation and other marginalized communities. She is currently a senior at DePaul University and serves on the Board of Directors of the Indo-American Democratic Organization (IADO), GenerationVote, Women Empowering Women in Illinois Legislation (WeWill) and SheVotesIL. She holds her elected seat on the Skokie Board of Education, as its youngest member.

Essam Choudhary has 14 years work experience in leadership roles for business. He is also deeply engaged in civic engagement, non-profit community work, government and diplomatic relations, and smart cities initiatives to give back to the community, state, and nation.