Being Somali, being Muslim, it's always something I've been very proud of.

I don't see myself only as a Somali character. I think of myself as an actor, and if the job fits me and I like the story, I will go for it.

Over the course of my life, I have made many transitions - most of them taking me further away from my Somali roots and steadily toward the enlightened mentality of Western democracy.

I think now, we in the international community are belatedly wanting to show our solidarity with the Somali peoples and also do our best to help them move to better times.

Somali is turning into a desert. Rwanda, you can hardly find a place to plant a potato, it's so crowded.

I am not a Somali representative. I am not a Muslim representative. I am not a millennial representative. I am not a woman representative. I am a representative who happens to have all of these marginalized identities and can understand the intersectionality of all of them in a very unique way.

Many in the Somali community are excited to vote and support candidates who have shown an ability to lead with integrity and not use props and gatekeepers to get their votes.

I love Somali foods like canjeero, a pancakelike bread; same for pizza, burgers, and sushi.

I know that for me, a lot of people will look at me and they'll think 'Somali' or 'outsider' instead of 'Minnesota.'

When people put labels on us, it doesn't always enclose everything that we are. So even though I'm proud to be Somali, I'm proud to be American, at the end of the day, I'm still Halima, and I take things from both sides and combine them, and I make my own little category. I'm me!

If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.

The film 'Black Hawk Down' paints the Somali people as wild savages.

What I always emphasize is that I am a representative who happens to be Somali.

I was always made aware of inequality in society, that there was a class system. In Somalia, we have clan structures. My mother's family is ethnically not Somali, and so we spoke often about what it meant to be 'other' in that way.

I mix things from my Somali culture and my American side.

I remember, when I lived in a refugee camp, it was the people who weren't Somali, the people who came from Western countries, who helped the most. I remember being six and thinking, 'I want to be one of those women,' because I knew how much they helped us.

When I was younger, I didn't have that type of person that I could look up to and be like, 'OK, this is someone who dresses like me and I relate to.' I didn't have that growing up, so to give that opportunity to a younger generation of women - and not just Somali women, but anyone who feels different - that means a lot to me.

I don't look like a white woman. I look Somali.

Hamdi Ulukaya and Chobani have made the decision to feed 250,000 victims of the Somali famine. Their compassion speaks for itself, and is a shining example of how the business community can have an enormous positive impact on the world.

We need better coordination on the international side, just as they need better and more effective efforts on the Somali side. We have too many reconstruction and development assistance plans.