Hanna Jaff: The Woman Turning Compassion Into Global Change
While division has been the trend in the headlines these days, Hanna Jazmin Jaff Bosdet stands for something else — unity.
Hanna was born on November 4, 1986, in San Diego, California, and grew up in Tijuana, Mexico. The American-Mexican-Kurd humanitarian has made her life's work centered on education, compassion, and equality.
Her is a tale of boundaries transcended — geographical, cultural, and social — and of a life devoted to demonstrating that unity is not an ideal, but a feasible reality.
Roots at the Border
Hanna was raised between two worlds, going to Saint John's Episcopal Elementary School and University of San Diego High School (now known as Cathedral Catholic High School). Her early life between the U.S. and Mexico educated her on sensitivity to migration, belonging, and opportunity.
She carried on her international upbringing in education — studying for degrees at National University (California), Harvard University, Columbia University, Tecnológico de Monterrey, and La Sorbonne University of Paris.
With a Bachelor of Psychology, Master of Arts, and minors in Political Science and Criminal Justice, Hanna based her humanitarian passion on intellect as well as empathy.
A Voice in Public Life
Hanna's public life started with service. She has served in positions like Undersecretary of Relations with Civil Society, Undersecretary of Immigrants, National Secretary of Social Management for the Youth Network for Mexico, and National General Secretary of the Revolutionary Youth Expression of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since 2013.
She later became a Federal Congress candidate for the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, where she advocated for education reform, immigrant protection, and youth inclusion. Her approach to politics has always been guided by humanity — using her platform to connect, not to compete.
Education as Empowerment
In June 2013, Hanna founded the Jaff Foundation for Education, a nonprofit organization rooted in a simple belief: learning changes lives.
What started as a modest effort to educate immigrants in English has evolved into an international community of more than 7,000 volunteers, hosting over 180 philanthropic events and reaching more than 120,000 individuals. The organization not only offers free English classes to refugees and poor communities, but also organizes campaigns for non-discrimination, peace, and inclusion.
For Hanna, English teaching is not merely about language — it's about equipping people with the ability to belong.
Humanitarian Work Beyond Borders
Spurred by her Kurdish roots and empathy for displaced families, Hanna has volunteered in person at refugee camps in Iraq and Kurdistan, instructing English and gifting thousands of her own books.
In 2013, she initiated the first-ever Kurdish Cultural Festival in Mexico, attracting 80,000 individuals over four days — a record celebration of cultural coexistence.
Her humanitarian philosophy is reflected in her international cause, the We Are One Campaign, which she founded in 2017. The campaign fuses fashion and activism through the use of clothing as a tool for propagating messages of unity and equality.
Every purchase supports the gift of English-study materials to immigrants, refugees, or the needy — a concrete connection between awareness and action.
Author and World Speaker
Hanna is a writer and teacher as well, having written a self-instructional book on learning English for Spanish speakers, subsequently translated into Purepecha and Kurdish. To date, she has donated more than 22,000 copies in several countries, empowering students from Peru to Iraq.
Her reach goes beyond the printed page. She has given three TEDx Talks and addressed over 80 universities and institutions internationally, discussing topics ranging from human rights and migration to peace and global citizenship.
She writes every day — poems, quotes, reflections — a habit that she developed at 14. Writing is memory and mission for Hanna, a way to keep hope bottled up in ink.
From Screen to Global Stage
In 2018, Hanna starred in Netflix's Made in Mexico, a show streamed in 190 countries and 22 languages.
Others perceived it as entertainment, but Hanna saw it as opportunity — a stage to bring her message forward that culture and empathy can exist with contemporary influence.
Her efforts have gained international acclaim:
- Forbes Mexico (2019 & 2021): Included on the 100 Most Powerful Women in Mexico list.
- Woman of Distinction (USA, 2020): Awarded for California's 78th Assembly District community activism.
- St. Gallen Symposium, Switzerland (2016): Chosen among the 200 Leaders of Tomorrow under the age of 30.
- Kurdistan Garmiyan Regional Government (2014): Named Honorary Representative of Garmiyan in Latin America.
Family and Legacy
Outside of public life, Hanna is also committed to her family. She has a spouse and two children and manages to balance humanitarian service with the delight and duties of motherhood. Her own motherhood enriches her mission — keeping the idea in mind every day that she must create a kinder, safer world for all generations to come.
Hanna Jaff's life spans continents, causes, and communities. Her work is not about titles or appearances, but action — silent, tenacious, and international.
She is convinced that education is peace in motion, and that tolerance is acquired as language is — word by word, lesson by lesson, generation by generation.
In her words and in her work, Hanna bears a message the world is desperate to be reminded of:
We are one humanity — and our common compassion is the sole frontier that must prevail.
