Nimco Ali

Ali was born in 1982 in Somalia. When she was four, her family moved to Manchester, England, where she was raised.[1][2] She has four brothers, one of whom, Mohamed, is chair of the Somali Conservatives.[3]

For her post-secondary education, Ali attended the University of the West of England, Bristol.[4]

Ali is a close friend of Carrie Symonds, the fiancée of Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and is godmother to their son, Wilfred.[5]

Ali co-founded The Five Foundation, the Global Partnership to End FGM, with Brendan Wynne in 2019. This non profit works to raise the issue of FGM on the international agenda and re-grant funding to grassroots organizations working to end FGM. Ali previously worked as a civil servant. She also served as a women's rights activist and an independent training consultant for a number of years.[4]

In 2010, Ali along with psychotherapist Leyla Hussein founded Daughters of Eve.[1][6] The non-profit organization was established to help young women and girls, with a focus on providing education and raising awareness on female genital mutilation (FGM).[7] It is no longer operational. Ali underwent the procedure at the age of seven at a hospital in Djibouti while on vacation with her family.[1][8] She later suffered health complications and had to undergo reconstructive surgery.[9] The experience and meeting other females who had been incised inspired her to assist at risk girls and to call for the practice's eradication.[1][2]

Additionally, Ali served as a Network Coordinator for The Girl Generation. She has also written extensively on national gender rights.[4]

Her book What We’re Told Not to Talk About (But We’re Going to Anyway): Women’s Voices from East London to Ethiopia was published by Penguin Books in June 2019. It includes stories of women who are sharing experiences they have always been told should be "secret and shameful" as well as Ali's own story of living with FGM.[10]

In October 2020, Ali was appointed by Home Secretary Priti Patel as an Independent government Adviser for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls.[11]

In 2014, Ali and Hussein received a community/charity award at the 2014 Red Magazine Woman of the Year awards for their work with Daughters of Eve.[7] They also placed sixth in the Woman's Hour Power List 2014.[6] She was named one of BBC's 100 Women during 2018.[12]

On International Women's Day 2019 it was announced that the 2019 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy’s International Women’s Rights Award would be awarded to Ali for her "approach to ending FGM by offering holistic support to survivors of the practice".[13]

Ali was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to tackling female genital mutilation and gender inequality.[14][15]

At the 2017 general election, Ali contested the seat of Hornsey and Wood Green[16] in North London for the Women's Equality Party. Nimco polled 551 votes (0.9%),[17] finishing in 5th place out of the 8 candidates that stood and losing her deposit.[18]

She endorsed Boris Johnson, whom she views as a "real feminist”, in the 2019 Conservative leadership election.[19] During the 2019 general election, Ali endorsed the Conservatives.[20]

• Official website