Sayid Abdul

Sayid Abdul is a Mid-Career MPA candidate and Gleitsman Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is a Uyghur activist and human rights advocate. Sayid fled to the US as a refugee with only 30 USD in his pocket. Experiencing homelessness and violence as a refugee galvanized him to found multiple initiatives for asylum seekers and helped to raise more than one million dollars for a variety of social justice causes. He was selected as one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30, the Financial Times’ list of Outstanding Top 50 Future Leaders, Oxford’s Architect of the Future and One Young World’s Youth Ambassador. For his excellence in global activism, he was recognized by We are Family Foundation, United Nations, Global Clinton Initiative, Hollywood’s Disruptors and many others.

Currently, he works as a Product Marketing Manager at Google, where he leads creative partnership initiatives for sustainability. Previously, he worked as an youth consultant at the United Nations, focusing on the World Humanitarian Summit and the UN Secretary General’s Agenda for Humanity.

Sayid attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a recipient of the Point Scholarship, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and entrepreneurship. At Penn, he was selected as one of the Top 10 Penn Alumni Who Are Changing the World.

As a Cheng Fellow, Sayid is focusing on developing My Uyghur Origin, an initiative that increases awareness of Uyghur genocide, collects testimonies of Uyghur refugees and preserved Uyghur culture.