Matine Khalighi

Matine Khalighi’s interest in helping others began in middle school when he enrolled in a community service class to research a social issue and get involved in improving it. As a result, he learned all about homeless young people and was moved by their many different stories. At the age of 14, he co-founded Helping the Homeless Colorado, a non-profit which distributed over 50,000 basic necessities to those experiencing homelessness across the state. Today, he is the Founder and Executive Director of EEqual, a for-youth, by-youth non-profit working to overcome student homelessness through education and advocacy. With thought-provoking digital content, EEqual encourages conversations among Gen Z about the taboo topics of student poverty and homelessness on social media as well as through events and speaking engagements. In particular, EEqual’s social media outreach has so far reached over 8 million people.

Matine Khalighi is 19-year-old student from Colorado now studying at Harvard.