Ajten Selfo

Ajten, 23, defines herself as a passionate connector, social activist and a people lover. Born in Albania and raised in Italy, she moved to the UK at the age of 19 to pursue her degree in International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. 

At the age of 15, she started advocating for migrants’ and refugees’ rights. For over four years, Ajten worked on several European projects with the goal of facilitating the social inclusion of students who had recently migrated to Italy. For two years, she worked with the Ministry of Education in Italy to assist in the creation of the first-ever national forum for high-school students, IoStudio. After moving to London, she kept her activism alive through her research internship at the International Organization for Migration in Albania and through her voluntary work as an English teacher at Student Action for Refugees in London. She earned her first-class Bachelor’s degree in 2013 with a thesis on the role of social media in political uprisings.

After graduation, she specialized in youth leadership and social entrepreneurship as the Head of Community Engagement at World Merit. In July 2014, she was nominated as a scholar at the Malala Fund and she is currently co-creating an educational program focused on gender equality as part of the World Merit Fellowship. After four years in England, Ajten recently moved to Brazil where she works as a program specialist at UnCollege.