Born in October 1987, Malia Bouattia was raised by her parents, who fled Algeria during the Algerian Civil War. She began campaigning for social justice and protesting social issues while in school, taking part in protests against the Iraq War. She attended University of Birmingham where she studied cultural studies with French and got her Masters of Philosophy in post colonial theory. During her time at university, she became active in the National Union of Students. She would later serve as the Black Students Officer and as the President of NUS. During her time as a student politician, she advocated for more diversity in the establishment and campaigned for a permanent officer for transgender students. She also helped to found the Students not Suspects/Educators Not Informant Networks and has presented on British Muslim TV’s Women Like Us.