About Rahiel Tesfamariam
A Generational Leader & Prophetic Voice
Shaping a Global Future
A Legacy of Leadership
and Impact
Rahiel Tesfamariam is an award-winning activist, journalist, theologian, and speaker. A former Washington Post columnist, she is the founder of Urban Cusp, a cutting-edge online community highlighting faith, social change, culture, and global awareness. Rahiel has also served as a young adult pastor in her hometown of Washington, D.C.
Rahiel is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Divinity School, where she was the inaugural William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Scholar for Peace and Justice. At age 23, she served as the youngest editor-in-chief in the history of The Washington Informer newspaper. She has over two decades of organizing experience with national and international social justice organizations.
Rahiel has traveled the world on various delegations and humanitarian projects. For years, she worked in Africa, organizing with Pan-African movements across the continent. Rahiel is a recipient of countless national fellowships and awards for her social justice and media work, including the Root100, the National Action Network’s “Who Got Next” Award, the National Newspaper Publishers Association National Leadership Award, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Salute to Excellence Digital Media Award, and the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee “Spirit of the Flame” Freedom Flame Award.
Rahiel has spoken at prestigious universities and historic churches throughout the nation. As a generational voice, she has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Ebony, Elle, and on BET and Revolt TV. The world-renowned nonprofit Black Girls Rock!, Inc. featured Rahiel on their annual awards show on BET, saluting “her tireless dedication to global issues, community activism and youth advocacy.” Black Girls Rock! recognized her because she “leads with her faith, inspiring awareness and inciting change around the world.”
Essence magazine named Rahiel one of the nation’s “New Civil Rights Leaders.” Her debut book, Imagine Freedom: Transforming Pain into Political and Spiritual Power, is available wherever books are sold.
Awards & Honors
Selma Bridge Crossing Freedom Flame Award
The Root 100
NNPA National Leadership Award
Ebony’s “The New Faces of Civil Rights”
Revolt TV’s “Leaders of the New School”
Bold and Fearless 30 Most Notable Africans
NABJ Salute to Excellence Digital Media Award
Institute for the Future “Future for Good Fellow”
National Action Network “Who’s Got Next” Award
Black Girls Rock!
GIVE1 Project Global Leadership Fellow
IMPACT Leader of the Year
Beatitudes Society Fellow
EnVest Foundation “Top 40 Under 40”
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