Kiran Waqar is the Social Media and Youth Engagement Coordinator HEART. Kiran enjoys, studies, and participates in storytelling. Since high school, Kiran has competed internationally at Brave New Voices, spoken nationally, and has been featured in publications such as Teen Vogue, the Huffington Post, and New York Times bestselling book “Rad Girls Can.” Kiran is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Education Association SuAnne Big Crow Award, 2020 and 2021 Critical Language Scholarship, the Gail Short Hanson Award for Advocacy, and is a Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholar. Kiran recently graduated from American University with Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Transcultural Studies with a concentration in Community Based Research. During her undergraduate career, Kiran participated and co-led three in-person, entirely virtual, and hybrid programs on student organizing and transnational solidarity to South Africa. She also helped build student coalitions, such as the Settler Colonialism Event Series and the Jewish-Muslim Deconstructing Christian Hegemony Dialogue.
Originally from South Burlington, Vermont, Kiran is driven by the Audre Lorde quote, “without community, there is no liberation.” She loves being in the mountains and by Lake Chaplain, eating creemees at sunset, and community picnics in the summer.
