Issue #115: Malala Yousafzai: "I prioritized socializing over studying"

Aliza & Aja talk with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate about what platonic love means to her

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(Image credit: Hollie Fernando/The Guardian)

Interview by Aliza Sir and Aja Frost.

In June, we got an email from Malala Yousafzai’s publisher asking if we’d be interested in coverage opportunities around her new memoir. I blinked and read the email again. And again. Was she really talking about Malala?

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, education rights activist, and founder of the Malala Fund Malala?

Then Aja and I read Finding My Way, Malala’s surprisingly relatable and heartfelt second memoir, and we understood (while still being deeply flattered). In many ways, Finding My Way is a love letter to Malala’s friends. It’s also a love letter to herself: a look at how she took back the story of her life after being thrust into the public eye at fifteen. (It came out this Tuesday, and we think you’ll love it as much as we did.)

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For the first twenty minutes of our Zoom conversation, it felt like Malala, Aja, and I were just three friends catching up. We talked about making friends in college, starting therapy (and why Malala wishes she’d starter sooner), and how she pushed herself out of her comfort zone at Oxford.

Then we transitioned to her activism, and we were immediately reminded who we were talking to — an absolutely remarkable 28-year-old woman who’s given speeches at the U.N. and met major leaders like Obama, Macron, and Queen Elizabeth.

“How do you maintain stamina when it takes such a long time to see meaningful change?” I asked.

“The most important thing is following the lead of activists who are facing the biggest challenges in their communities,” she said. “There are young women and girls, and they are stepping forward and leading the change.”

Without further ado, here is Malala:

(Source: Malala Yousafzai)

On finding friendship:

Before [starting at Oxford] college, I had only one best friend. Just one. And I said, I can’t be on my own in college, because that would be quite lonely.

So I prioritized socializing over studying. I signed up for every event, club, and dinner party. I accepted every invitation. That got me out of my comfort zone and helped me find the people who saw me as a student, just like them. Those are the friends who helped me grow as a person and helped me feel safe to be myself.

On shedding her public persona: