THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!
From the 7th Annual Shorty Awards

Shawn Ahmed

Finalist in Activist

About Shawn Ahmed

I'm not sure if my Twitter account has changed my life or the lives of others more. It started off with me, as an activist, fundraising and bringing awareness to unique causes in Bangladesh. It helped connect donors to recipients and allowed the two to talk to each other. Donors could vote on projects they would fund and that I would do. Aid recipients could relay messages back. I did it this way because many of those I help are beyond the digital divide - although that's slowly changing. Later on, in 2012, when I was forced to reveal I was gay it was the same platform which I used to help others which allowed me to help myself. I turned for support as my family tried to arrange a marriage to a woman as a cure. I reached out on Twitter for safe places I could stay as I found myself no longer able to live with family in Bangladesh. I don't claim to say I'm the biggest and the best but I'm alive (and relatively safe) today because of how social media has impacted my life.

Shawn Ahmed's best work on social

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgmADR8r800 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHBkNN7gNIQ&list=PLUmj5E9J0Tktr4agRgmdharrTA_p7l6xd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-50dnGnoj6A&list=PLUmj5E9J0Tktr4agRgmdharrTA_p7l6xd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzi2BNkyq7s&list=PLUmj5E9J0Tktr4agRgmdharrTA_p7l6xd