Akida Pulat is from the city of Urumqi, located in the Uyghur Region. She graduated from the University of Washington and worked as a business analyst before becoming an activist in 2019 to fight for the release of her mother — Rahile Dawut, a renowned professor and one of the millions of Uyghurs that the Chinese government has detained. Akida currently is a member at Campaign for Uyghurs, where she continues to raise awareness about her mother’s detention and the unprecedented human rights abuses her people are facing.