Noor Tagouri

Libyan-American

Journalist + Activist

Website: noortagouri.com

Instagram: @ntagouri

The daughter of parents who emigrated from Libya to the USA, Noor Tagouri is becoming a household name thanks to her activism centered on cultural injustices and women empowerment.

“Since the launch of the viral #LetNoorShine [social media] campaign in 2012, Tagouri has gained significant support for her efforts to break normative stereotypes, further establishing a strong platform to encourage others to realize their own potential in a multicultural society.” Through her campaign, Noor connected with like-minded activists around the world and gave motivational speeches. The success of the campaign afforded her a feature on OWN and an invitation to deliver a TEDx talk.

Born in West Virginia, and raised in Bowie, Maryland (a suburb of D.C.), Noor attended the University of Maryland and graduated with a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism at just 20 years old in 2014. Prior to that, at 18, she was the youngest Student Commencement Speaker at Prince George’s Community College, where she graduated with a 4.0 GPA and an associate of arts degree.

In October 2016, Noor was named one of Playboy Magazine’s Renegades. The campaign was a part of Playboy's new brand image, which has moved completely away from publishing naked photographs. Noor’s appearance received both praise and criticism, but the fact remains – she’s the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman to be featured in Playboy.

Noor has worked as a Reporter at CTV News, and at CBS Radio as a Board Operator, Associate Journalist and News Producer. She currently writes a column for the Huffington Post and is an anchor and producer for Newsy, an online video news site.

Interesting fact: Noor has her eyes set on becoming the first American hijabi news anchor.

Sources: PGCC, Huffington Post and noortagouri.com