Mohammad Al Akel (he/him) was born in Beirut, Lebanon, a country with many hardships that shaped him into an enthusiastic leader fueled by grit and compassion. He is grateful for the MasterCard Foundation Scholarship he received at the American University of Beirut, where he developed into an advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights, human rights and climate justice. After his coming out challenges, he was dedicated to pursuing his graduate studies even after his family temporarily rejected him. He completed his master’s of climate change at the University of Waterloo. He aims to inspire and empower the LGBTQIA+ community and wrote and published his book titled The Influential Story of a Gay from the Middle East, and initiated the first private Facebook Group for marginalized Middle Eastern queer groups in Canada, LGBTQ+ Middle Easterners and North Africans in Canada. He is currently working at the Alliance for South Asian Aids Prevention (ASAAP) as a settlement manager for LGBTQ+ Middle Easterners and South Asians, where he shares awareness about mental health, STIs, harm reduction and HIV prevention, in addition to aiding newcomers and refugees to settle in Canada.