Yassmin Midhat Abdel-Magied was born in 1991 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. When she was just 18 months old, her parents, an engineer and an architect, moved to Bribane, Australia where she and her younger brother were raised. She studied at John Paul College for high school, during which time she founded ‘Youth Without Borders’. That same year, in 2007, she was named Young Australian Muslim of the Year. Yassmin studded mechanical engineering at University of Queensland, completing her studies with First-Class Honors in 2011. Upon graduation, she worked for a number of different engineering firms, at the same time, continuing her advocacy work across the country. She was named Queensland Young Australian of the Year in 2015 and appointment to the Council for Australian-Arab Relations, which saw her travel across the Middle East to promote Australia. In 2014, Yassmin gave a 14 minutes Ted talk in Brisbane, entitled ‘What does my headscarf mean to you?’. Three years later, she became the victim on online attacks after she shared critiques of Australia’s treatment of refugees and detainees on Anzac day. As a result of the abuse, she moved to England, leaving behind her engineering career but continuing her career in media. She has appeared on the podcast, The Guilty Feminist, and starred in a TV series called the Homecoming Queens. In 2019, her debut novel, You Must Be Layla, was published, telling the story of a Sudanese girl who struggles to fit into her new private school.