Nadia Murad Joins Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Podcast

On October 22, Nadia Murad joined Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Podcast to discuss I Choose My Beginning and the decade since The Last Girl. Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, Nadia’s longtime partner in the pursuit of justice for Yazidi survivors, joined them to look back on a decade of work together.

Oprah and Nadia talked about the difference between surviving and healing, and about the expectations placed on survivors who speak out. Nadia described being told to wear only black, to give up makeup, and that love and marriage had no place in a life of advocacy. That pressure to give up a life of her own, she explained, is why the book is called I Choose My Beginning.

Amal recalled their first meeting in 2016 and the work that followed: gathering evidence and survivor testimony, and working with prosecutors in Germany and across Europe to bring ISIS members to trial under universal jurisdiction. That work helped secure the first conviction of an ISIS member for genocide against the Yazidi people. Nadia, Amal said, has always been clear that she wants justice, not revenge.

Nadia also spoke about the thousands of Yazidis still missing, including members of her own family. “Those are human beings, and they have families who are waiting for them,” she said. Twelve years on, Nadia’s Initiative continues to work with families in Sinjar who are still searching, and still waiting for the remains of loved ones to be identified and returned.

“Survival is never the end of the story,” Nadia told Oprah. It was only the first step.

Watch or listen to the full episode here. I Choose My Beginning is available wherever books are sold. Get your copy here.