HUMA ABEDIN
Huma was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to an Indian father and a Pakistani mother, both professors. Shortly after, they were offered jobs in Saudi Arabia and moved the family there when Huma was two years old.
As a teenager, she aspired to be a journalist like her role model, Christiane Amanpour, and she wanted to work in the White House press office. When she was eighteen, she returned to the U.S. and attended George Washington University, earning a degree in journalism and political science.
Her political career began at just 21 years old when, in 1996, she took a position at the White House as a student intern assigned to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. She quickly made a name for herself as a trusted advisor, and her extensive knowledge of foreign policy, particularly the Middle East, combined with excellent organizational skills, made her an invaluable asset.
Despite her preference for staying in the background, she unexpectedly gained attention in 2011 when her husband resigned from Congress due to his admission of sending sexually explicit photos of himself to several women. Not only was the incident a blow to her family life, but the cascading effects of increased legal and media scrutiny on her husband's electronic data history began to cause trouble for her professional life as well.
When personal emails between Huma and Hillary were found on her husband's laptop, it cast suspicion on the Clinton campaign, especially after James Comey, the then-Director of the FBI, decided to reopen an investigation just days before the election. Though nothing illegal was found, many believe it cost Hillary the election.
Despite the heavy burden of intense scrutiny into both her personal and professional life, Huma displayed remarkable resilience and poise, never losing focus on her dedication to public service. Even in her most difficult moments, her instinct was to redirect her energy toward service rather than self-pity, and rather than stepping away from public life, she chose to remain engaged, continuing her work on behalf of the causes and candidates she believed in.
Her steadfast support for women's leadership and her mentorship of young women entering politics reflect a deeply held belief that public service is not a career, but a calling — one she has honored with grace and quiet determination through every challenge life has placed in her path.
In 2021, she published her memoir, Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, in which she gives readers a personal account of her career in public service and the challenges she faced — personally, politically, and as an American Muslim woman navigating the highest levels of U.S. politics.
