INVITE MPV-PRESIDENT, ANI ZONNEVELD TO SPEAK
Ani Zonneveld
President and Founder of Muslims for Progressive Values
Ani Zonneveld is a writer, singer/songwriter, founder and President of Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV), an international human rights organization that advocates for social justice and equality for all, a strong supporter of freedom of expression and of conscience, women’s rights and as an ally, LGBTQ rights. Ani promotes these values at the United Nations by challenging human rights abuses in the name of Islam, and by offering an inclusive understanding based on universal human rights and justice. Since its inception, Ani has presided over MPV’s expansion to include chapters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington D.C., New York, Boston, Columbus and Chicago, and spearheaded the founding of Alliance Of Inclusive Muslims, made of members spanning five continents.
Ani is on the U.N. Inter-agency’s Faith Advisory Council, and recently commissioned by the U.N. Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect to create an anti-hate speech curriculum for Muslim communities. She has organized numerous interfaith arts and music festivals, is the co-editor of MPV’s first book, an anthology titled “Progressive Muslim Identities – Personal Stories from the U.S. and Canada”; executive producer of a video series “LGBTQI Rights in Islam”; has contributed to many forewords and anthologies, and is a contributor for HuffingtonPost, OpenDemocracy and al-Jazeera. She has a TEDx talk titled – Islam: As American As Apple Pie, and is the subject of a documentary title "al-imam" featuring Ani's activism works. As an award winning songwriter, she utilizes the power of music and the arts in countering radicalism as she speaks-sings her message of social justice and peace from a progressive Muslim woman’s perspective, and is the first woman to release an English Islamic pop album in the U.S. in 2004. She continues to create spiritual worship songs for the purpose of creating a new culture for Western born Muslims.
Born in Malaysia, Ani, a Muslim since birth, spent a good portion of her formative years raised in Germany, Egypt and India as an Ambassador’s daughter. Her exposure to different politics, religions and cultures has shaped her inclusive worldview.