Mohamud Yussuf

Business Specialist, Somali

Mohamud is a journalist, photographer, and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Runta (Truth), a news magazine that mainly serves Somalis in the Seattle area.  He was born and raised in Mogadishu, Somalia, and speaks Somali, Arabic, and English.  Mohamud has lived in seven countries: the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.  He graduated from Lafole University with a B.A. in Journalism in 1984 and worked at the newspaper October Star until 1990.  From 1988-1990, he also traveled throughout Somalia as a freelance photographer and owned a coffee shop in Mogadishu.

In 1990, the civil war began, and he soon found himself in a refugee camp in Kenya.  He was there for four months, until he was hired to manage press relations for the Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim Foundation, an aid organization.  In 1995, while in Nairobi, he founded Runta.

Since coming to the U.S. as a refugee in 1996, he has studied English, obtained a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Washington, and served the Somali community in several capacities, including providing interpretation and translation services between Somali and English at Seattle area hospitals and facilitating the transition and integration of Somali children into area schools.

Contact
email: myussuf (at) washingtoncash.org | phone: (206) 920-0220