At age 30, Mariam Issa moved to a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, from her Somali homeland with her husband, four children and a fifth on the way. Far away from the tight communities and families in Somalia, Mariam found herself in a foreign country that had a foreign language and a foreign culture. Similar to a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, she spent 10 years going through depression, the victim phase, an anger phase, and finally, arriving at the activist phase. Through her powerful stories that tell her trials and tribulations, she has inspired countless women who have had similar experiences to stop seeing themselves as victims, but to see the butterfly within in order to achieve their fullest potential.
Mariam is the distinguished author of the book, “A Resilient Life,” a story of resilience in the face of hardship and the spirit of determination, optimism, and understanding of all that makes us human.
She is the co-founder of RAW (Resilient Aspiring Women), a not-for-profit organisation that supports women’s resilience through intercultural dialogue and exchange facilitated by storytelling, cooking and gardening.