Northeasters Iris Altamirano and Saciido Shaie were honored as Rising Stars by the DFL Women’s Hall of Fame. Sunday, June 12, over 200 people from all over Minnesota gathered at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington to recognize the lifetime achievements of those who work behind the scenes of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, and Rising Stars nominated by elected officials or their peers.
In 2014, concerned about the opportunity gap for students of color, Altamirano ran for Minneapolis School Board. She is currently the board chair of NAVIGATE MN, which seeks to achieve greater access to higher education and comprehensive immigration reform for immigrant youth.
Shaie was born in Somalia and came to the U.S. with her family as a refugee in 1992, to the Twin Cities in 1998, and has been a community leader and political activist ever since. A former teacher at Abubakr al-Sadiq Islamic Center, she is a co-founder of Somali Youth Action of Minnesota, now the Ummah Project.