Ramla Ali: refugee to fan favorite, an inspiring tale
Following her Mother’s lead, young Ramla took full advantage of the education being provided by the host country. By age 12, this diligent student had put on some unwanted pounds and reached 182 lbs. Then, as luck would have it, the 12-year-old stopped by a neighborhood gym which was offering a Boxercise Class and became drawn to the sport, not only as a means of losing weight but a way to defend herself.
From that point, Ramla would spend three plus hours a day at the gym and she became a force. The now 126 lb. Featherweight began to win local tournaments which lead to her winning 2 National Titles plus International titles. Soon, Somalia took a personal interest and announced they’d like her to represent them in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to become the first Somalian ever to go to the Olympics.
Once her inspirational tale became known, Her Highness Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex took a personal interest and lined Ramla Ali up to become one of Vogue Magazine’s 15 Forces for Change in her 2019 special guest edited issue of Vogue Magazine which featured the following ladies: Actress/founder of Eighteen x 18 Yara Shahidi, Actress/campaigner Jane Fonda, Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Climate Change Activist/student Greta Thunburg, Model and Founder of Every Mother Counts Christy Turlington Burns, Royal Ballet principal dancer Francesca Hayward, Actress/Advocate Jameela Jamil, Actress/Producer/Women’s Rights Advocate Salma Hayeck Pinault, Mental Health Campaigner/Model Adwoa Aboah, former refugee/Model Adut Akech, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, Diversity Advocate Sinead Burke, Campaigner/Actress Gemma Chan, Actress, advocate, producer Laverne Cox and finally Great Britain’s latest heroine/former refugee/Pro Boxer/now lionized Model Ramla Ali.
After Vogue Magazine discovered how beautiful Ali was, Ramla went from being mentioned in a feature story to being a cover girl, and from her exposure in Vogue Magazine came more and more offers from a host of publications, marketers such as the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, How To Spend It magazine, the BBC, Elle, the Daily Mail, Wonderland Magazine, Face to face Africa, Olympic Channel.com, CNN, Harpers Bazaar, Stylist, Pantene, Everlast, Nike and Coach. After signing with imgmodels.com, her options are aplenty which further proves that she is without a doubt an example for all refugees worldwide. Work hard like Ramla Ali and you too can become a huge success and make your mark.
As far as planning your next trip to the Republic of Somalia, think positive:
While Lockdown measures are currently in place for the United Kingdom, normally you could go by train to London’s Heathrow Airport and then fly the 16 hours and 53 minutes to Mogadishu, Somalia (a distance of 4,461 miles). Nowadays, you might consider taking along a parachute because at present there are some border closures in place in Somalia due to the Coronavirus and most travel in this still dangerous country has been restricted.
