Rudy Mengesha is 24 years old of Ghanaian and Ethiopian heritage but was born and raised in Kristianstad, Sweden.

She is a human rights defender and activist with a Master’s degree in International Relations and a B.A in Human Rights law.

She is dedicated to issues concerning Africa and particularly Ghana, which led her towards gaining a scholarship from SIDA to travel to Ghana and collect data for her thesis about the democratic process there.

Rudy also completed a year as a communication officer for the Swedish International Development and Co-operation Agency (SIDA).

Furthermore, she has been involved in several human rights and anti-racist organizations that work to prevent racism and afrophobia in Sweden. Currently she is a board member of the organization Fight Racism Now.

Rudy’s contributions have been instrumental in the building of opinion and political pressure that led to the first government commissioned report on afrophobia in Sweden and the establishment of an African empowerment and information center in the City of Malmö (which is still an ongoing process).

In 2014/2015 she made a contribution to the Swedish anthology ”Inte en främling – 41 berättelser om identitet och mångfald ” (directly translated in English: Not a stranger – 41 stories about identity and diversity). As the title states, the book contains 41 stories from Swedish politicians, celebrities and other profiles about their experiences of racism and alienation in Sweden.

Currently she is working at the culture department of Malmö city, as a co- ordinator for gender.equality and anti-discrimination.

She believes that change should come from different angles, one could be through political pressure and building opinion. Another way is also to work your way within the system. Thus, she is also engaged in politics as a local politician for the Left party.