05/01/2022
🇬🇳 🇺🇸 Thierno Sow moved to the United States from Guinea in 2005 at the age of 16. He attended the High School of World Cultures at James Monroe Campus Bronx.
Giving back and uplifting the underserved is not only Thierno’s passion but, as a Black Muslim, it is a tool for him help create a just society. Back in high school, he was selected to be part of James Monroe's exclusive leadership training class and was part of the student government. He also volunteered to tutor middle school students.
He studied at Seton Hall University for two semesters before transferring to the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York with a full-ride scholarship from the Madison Policy Forum. He graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Political Science. He also received a CUNY Study Abroad Scholarship to France.
For his college thesis, he wrote about the United States war on terrorism. He interned at the Fordham Center on National Security as well as at the office of former Congressman Joseph Crowley.
After college, he started working for Solar One, an environmental organization In New York City. As the Outreach Coordinator, he worked with elected officials, community boards and other stakeholders to educate New Yorkers about environmental and economic benefits of using clean energy. As a consultant with the Writers Foundation, he helped organize “Transforming our world: Inclusive Social development for All,” the United Nations General Assembly’s high-level side event in 2019.
For more than 10 years, he has led different organizations and initiated programs such as Housing Connect, a immigration clinic, and women and youth empowerment initiatives to help uplift underserved communities in New York City. As a Volunteer Coordinator for the International Young Leaders Assembly of the Global Peace Foundation, he helped his fellow African youth attend different youth summits and networking events at the United Nations. In 2014, he was among young leaders that met with Ban Ki-moon, the former Secretary-General of the UN, for the 500 Days of Action of the Millennium Development Goals.
In 2017, Thierno was appointed by the Bronx Borough President to serve on Community Board 3 in the Bronx. He is a member of the Honorary Society of the National Society of Leadership and Success. He received the Global Peace Leadership Award. He also received the Community Service Award from Touching Lives in West Africa.
In 2020, he joined the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, as a consultant, where he took on projects such as Diaspora and Development and helped collect data for Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) for Guinea.
We appreciate Black Muslim men like Thierno who are committed to giving back to West African communities and uplifting underserved communities. He is also paving the way for Black Muslim men to be involved in political and foreign affairs.
