and unimaginative and ideas simple and
straightforward I have ideas ranging
from how to get ready faster in the
mornings to how to make food taste
better and maybe just maybe an idea that
can change the world now my ideas
haven’t always been interpreted in the
ways I would have liked just asked my
literature teacher why I got a C on my
paper but sometimes you get that idea
you have that idea that requires a leap
of faith and a mountain of hope and a
couple months ago I had that idea and I
took that leap of faith and I embraced
that mountain of hope and a year ago at
the age of 14 I made a short film that
received international acclaim and an
invitation to the White House in a time
where our means of technology are
advancing it’s no surprise that our
means of communicating have advanced to
no longer do we have to take a chunk of
time to read a complex article when we
can just simply sit and watch videos
have become such a critical part of our
communication you watch videos for
anything and everything because they’re
just simply easy in a world that is
moving so fast it is interesting to take
a step back from it all and look at what
we do daily we communicate through our
fingertips and we learn through a screen
now most would be come to say that being
a millennial is a curse that Millennials
are selfie crazed narcissistic internet
addicted texting drivers and while some
of those statements could sometimes
prove to be a little true we contain a
power that has opened up a world of
opportunity take the internet for
example in 2016 3.4 billion people used
the internet daily isn’t it amazing to
think that one complicated piece of
technology has the power to link
the whole world together these are no
longer the days where you write a letter
and wait weeks for a reply this is a
time where you do and receive
instantaneously the Internet is most
arguably used for the various social
media platforms and while social media
is often looked down upon
we are failing to realize the
complexities at the opportunities that
it holds when you really delve into
thoughts you would see that you have
access to the entire world you can
communicate with over 3.4 billion people
and while social media is still most
popularly used to share selfie or to
share a good picture we need to realize
the power that we have in our hands
rather than thinking of a picture of
yours to go viral think of an idea
to go viral a story to go viral
something that has the opportunity to
change the world because I know we all
have that power believe me a good hair
day isn’t going to do much to change the
world
so the moment I started believing
strongly in an idea was when I made a
short film about it I made a short film
about racism and about my life as a
young Muslim woman in America and it has
created so much conversation it received
international attention and also the
opportunity to share my story and to
share my ideas and my thoughts now the
upcoming of my film probably surprises
you just as much as it surprises me it
all started with a summer project being
a high schooler I also joined the
International Baccalaureate program
otherwise known as IB and they require
you to do a summer project the year
before your sophomore year and it’s
called the personal project so on top of
the homework and the deadlines the
assignments I hate to say that I
procrastinated just a little bit and I
decided to go with the idea of the most
basic photography portfolio I could have
now don’t get me wrong photography is an
essential form of arts and it is so
explicit and beautiful but it no means
was what I was doing considered
photography so halfway through the
summer as I was looking through my
portfolio I came across shots of art see
pictures of my coffee and close-ups of
people’s eyes and of course the winner a
shoelace tied into the various letters
of the alphabet placed on various
backgrounds slap a black and white
filter on and call it good
that was my winner but then after
looking through this I thought to myself
what was my advisor going to think and
so I scratched it I said no this isn’t
it and then a couple days later as I was
scrolling through Instagram I came
across the White House post for the
White House student Film Festival the
topic this year was the world I wanted
to live in and naturally I thought about
my life and the things that I go through
it was a film that captured the reality
where I got dirty looks and mean tweets
and then I had a dream where I was
smiled at and I was appreciated my film
became a final selection of the White
House Film Festival and I had the honor
of being invited to the White House my
silly little idea took me two weeks to
make but it received the attention of
President Obama my days at the White
House were days full of creativity and
conversation the first day being a day
where you mingled and talked with a 12
other film selected in the nation and we
had conversations about moving our world
forward and creating better futures for
us because how silly of it is an idea to
have kids choose their future right and
so as we were talking I came across this
little girl who is six years old
and she had the idea to bring pizza to
your local police department every week
she was six years
old and she had an idea that could
change the world the next day was a
festival called South by South Lawn a
spin-off of South by Southwest otherwise
known as SXL it was a festival full of
creativity and innovation and taking
action there I had the opportunity to
speak to numerous magazines and
organizations and also to share my
stories and share my opinions all the
kids selected had the honor of meeting
President Obama who let me tell you it’s
probably be nicest guy in the world that
I’ve ever met but when you think about
it we’re all kids standing in a room
with the president talking about our
futures that is the power that we all
have and so my days were filled with
meeting very very interesting and
special people I met with Milly Bobby
Brown star of Netflix hit series
stranger things about having ideas and
having dreams at such a young age and
acting on them I met with bethany mota
youtube sensation about using the
platforms we have like YouTube and
Instagram and Twitter to share messages
and to promote ideas I also had the
honor of working with Amy Poehler smart
girl organization about inspiring and
empowering our youth to have a voice and
to use their voice my film has provided
me with so much knowledge and so much
inspiration and confidence to be able to
tell people what I think and to use my
voice now this film this whole
experience was such a pivotal moment in
my life because before I made this film
I had no ideas or intentions of speaking
up I knew what was going on in the world
and I knew how I was being treated but I
never once thought to act on it and to
speak out
and my decision to even make a film was
blossomed from the effect that the news
outlets and the media was having on
people like me after failing so long a
feeling voiceless feeling like I was
being compressed to this tiny little box
the world didn’t want to see I decided
that I needed to be heard the struggle
of being this age the struggle of being
15 was that I have no legal say in my
future I don’t have the right to vote
and by my age there’s no legal rights
for me to choose and to act but I
learned that I have my voice my voice
was all that I really need a couple
years ago if you were to ask me what I
thought about feminism I would be
appalled because like most people for
some unknown weird reason I had this
idea that feminism and that if I were to
say that I was a feminist would mean
that I was a weak and whiny woman who
was ungrateful for what she had and that
is so not the case feminism is about
creating equal playing fields not taking
one gender over the other but creating a
fair environment for each other to
strive and so if you asked me today
I would say that yes I’m 100% a feminist
and so as election season came around I
began to pay attention to social issues
going on around the world I found out
what I agreed with and what I didn’t but
the one thing that I was always certain
in was the idea of equality now it no
longer matters whether or not you were
on the left or the right of things but
it is undeniable that there’s unrest in
our society and that equality is scarce
as much as it is heartbreaking and
confusing to say but the fact is that
you can’t blame someone to a certain
extent about thinking negative thoughts
about a religion or
race because the fact is they simply
don’t know and I realize this by asking
people who knew me by asking my friends
my teachers people at school what they
thought about my religion and what they
thought about me
and I was shocked to realize that my
closest friends have no idea who I am
they don’t know what it means to be a
Muslim they don’t know what it means to
be me they don’t know what completes me
and that is the biggest problem Mora
needs to be dying to create awareness
and to educate others about the people
around us and our neighbors and to
create an idea of acceptance throughout
our whole community I’m grateful for my
film and I learned that you as an
individual possess so much more power
than you are aware of we all have access
to the Internet and we all have the
resources to do what needs to be done
it’s just a matter of finding something
you really care about and fighting for
it my film has provided me with the
confidence to speak up and to fight for
what I believe is right and so I
attended several marches held fighting
for our rights and I went to the women’s
March most importantly it was March that
took place the day after after the
inauguration and the purpose was to send
solidarity and to fight for equal gender
rights and equal gender issues isn’t it
ironic how one month I was being invited
by the President to the White House and
the next I was protesting so crazily
good thing was two presidents and so the
Woman’s March was a worldwide phenomenon
held on every single continent every
single continent there was a boat in the
middle of the glaciers in Antarctica
with about 30 people holding signs
protesting and standing in solidarity
that is the power of social media if you
were to have asked me what I was
fighting for at the woman’s March I
would have said the right to be a woman
and then a couple weeks later if you
asked me the same question at the Muslim
March I would have said the right to
simply exist and that is a good thing we
all have certain beliefs and we all have
different passions and we all have the
power to change the world with the
technology and the power that we have
today it is so incredibly easy it is so
incredibly easy to pick up your phone
say a few words and start a movement
never underestimate the power of a
retweet or like or share or even a crazy
thought because right now at the age of
15 I know that our ideas even our
silliest of ideas have the power to
change the world [Applause]