Raised in Westchester County, New York, Ambassador Shabazz is the eldest of six daughters born to Dr. Betty Shabazz and Malcolm X Shabazz. She graduated from the United Nations International School at 17 and entered Briarcliff College the following fall semester, majoring in international law with a minor in English.

Ambassador Shabazz has spent over 35 years offering keynote addresses while developing curriculums and programs for educational institutions, executive forums, diplomatic networks, penal systems, conferences, and human service organizations globally. Her purpose is to motivate and encourage the young and mature alike to recognize the value in and appreciation of diverse cultural engagement, traditional rights of passage and perspectives, and a genuine respect for oneself and others.

Recognized as a masterful creator and astute businesswoman, Ambassador Shabazz has been fondly termed by her colleagues as an “ideas architect.” She is a strategist and technician quick to discern the integrity, theme, and ultimate goal of each endeavor while realizing a vision of execution and successful outcome.

In 1996, Ambassador Shabazz established the Pilgrimage Foundation in honor of her father’s spiritual journey to the Holy Land. “It offered him the ‘light of understanding’ and confirmed his vision for our oneness,” she states. In tribute to her mother’s lifelong legacy of service as an educator, as well as the leadership of both sets of grandparents—uniting five languages, three religions, social histories, and traditions—she has remained steadfast guiding experiences that expand one’s own personal prism and regard for others. Her lifetime commitment is to establish fellowships from the most fortunate to the disenfranchised, bridging the gaps with the sustenance that assures that “we step into the world both mindful and equipped to fulfill our bounty, then share it with another.” The Pilgrimage Foundation has touched hundreds of thousands of lives around the world reaching the underserved as well as the privileged, from shelters, correctional facilities, villages, and metropolises to state houses and royal compounds. Shabazz remarks, “We are fundamentally the same—balancing our highs and lows all day long.”

Upon years of personal service, the former Prime Minister of Belize recognized Ambassador Shabazz as a key advisor on International Cultural Affairs & Project Development. In 2002, he appointed her as the Ambassador-at-Large representing the country of Belize internationally and in perpetuity. Following, the Ministries of Human Development, Culture, Education, and Youth and Sports also incorporated her insights and guidance to their Cabinets as well. She has since been invited to participate in the US State Department’s Diplomatic Briefing Forums. Much of her expertise will be to foster diplomatic relations between cultures along with discerning traditional and contemporary practices, capacity building, human resource training, and economic development.

In addition to The Pilgrimage Foundation, Ambassador Shabazz and Yolanda King founded Nucleus, Inc. in 1977. The group traveled nationally to 100 cities per year until 1994, acquainting Shabazz with the roadmap of national systems, networks, and advancement per region. Ambassador Shabazz is the founder of Tapestry Bridge, Legacy, Inc., “Everybody Has One,” and the Malcolm X Shabazz Birthplace & Foundation. In the past, she has offered her dedicated participation as a member of the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum’s Task Force on the Digital Divide, has served on a number of international humanitarian boards, councils, and committees, has offered private consultation to many executive and diplomatic leaders, and is a proud member of the United Nations International School Alumnae where she counseled the senior class from 1991-2010, still guiding many to date, 20 years later.

Ambassador Shabazz has written op-ed commentaries and articles for newspapers and periodicals such as Time, Essence, El Mundo, and others. In 1999, she had the honor of adding to the list of her published writings the new foreword to her father’s classic, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and is completing a memoir titled From Mine Eyes.

Ambassador Shabazz’s hope is to motivate and inspire one to have a better understanding of his or her history, the surrounding world, and their constructive place in it, thus encouraging positive self-concept. She affirms, “It is within you to be all that your dreams imagine.” Read Less ^