Rana Ransom

Growing up in Southwest Virginia, as the child of Arab immigrants, Rana Ransom got involved in the local punk music scene by attending basement shows. Needless to say, they know what it feels like to be the only person in the room who looks like them. Maybe that’s why they have been so successful at building a community for people who rarely feel seen, let alone welcome. While they founded YallaPunk in 2017 as a festival to combat negative portrayals of North African and Middle Eastern people, they have grown it into a much-needed local community with a global impact.

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