I'm Habibah Ibrahim, a Public Service master's student based in Waterloo, Canada.
Background
I'm originally from Somalia and have spent most of my life in Canada. I've also lived in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria. I consider this period of my life formative to how I think about public policy, and why I'm a strong believer in a borderless world and humanism.
Currently
I'm finishing my final study term at the University of Waterloo and preparing for my co-op term in the spring. I spend most of my time thinking about my inner world, failing a lot, and trying to show up for myself.
Previously
- Policy Researcher, CanAfro Research Institute (2025) — Lead researcher on papers examining how Black people are depicted in Canadian textbooks, the mental health of East African youth in the Waterloo Region, and contextualizing the history of Black Canadians in Southern Ontario.
- OC Transpo (2019–2022) — Worked in a variety of roles, including as an essential worker during the pandemic and as a train conductor on the then-newly opened light rail line.
- Tim Hortons, Boys & Girls Club, and others (2015–2018) — A range of people-facing jobs that taught me a lot about grit, self-compassion, and managing priorities.
Interests
Beyond work, I'm interested in:
- Languages. I speak Somali, Arabic, and Turkish with relative fluency.
- Books. I'm currently building my antilibrary and love collecting books from Africa and the Middle East. I'm always reading 3–5 books at once and rarely finish more than one.
- Myself. I believe we have a responsibility to deeply engage with who we are and work toward becoming the person we want to be — even if that just means learning how to be kind to ourselves.