Mariam Alhassan Alolo was born on January 1, 1957 in Changli, Tamale in Ghana. She is also known as Haji Mariam and currenty works as a business woman and Islamic missionary across Western Africa. In 1981, when she was just 24 years old, Mariam founded the Mariam Islamic Center, in Sabjonjida that was created to train women preachers. In 2008, she was awarded the Nana Asma’u Bint Fodio’s Award for Excellence in Promotion of Literacy by the Al Furqaan Foundation, an excellence awards organization that honors Muslim individuals and organization in Ghana.