Auma Obama is journalist, author and sociologist. The older sister of former US President Obama is the initiator and chairman of the board of the Auma Obama Foundation Sauti Kuu, which aims to give children in Africa a self-determined life. Dr Auma Obama was born and raised in Kenya. She studied in Germany, earned a Master's degree at the University of Heidelberg, completed her doctoral studies at the University of Bayreuth with a thesis and also graduated from the Berlin University of Applied Sciences for Film and Television. After completing her studies, Dr Obama worked as a freelance journalist for various media houses and as an adult political education consultant for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Carl Duisberg Society before moving to the UK, where she worked briefly as a German lecturer at the University of Reading, in marketing and eventually for Children's Services, until returning to Kenya in 2007 to work for the humanitarian organisation CARE International for five years. An important part of her work there, was the creation and coordination of the Sport for Social Change Network, an initiative that brought together grassroots organisations from different countries in Africa and South Asia that use sport - with a particular focus on girls - as a tool for social change. During the 2008 presidential election campaign, Auma Obama was part of Barack Obama's campaign team and acted as a contact person for his supporters. In autumn 2010 Obama published her autobiography "Das Leben kommt immer dazwischen. Stationen einer Reise" and in 2011, her life became the subject of the documentary "The Story of Auma Obama". Book and film alike create the image of an extraordinarily strong woman with clear goals, who has far more to offer than a famous name and a prominent brother. Dr Obama is a member of the World Future Council, she is also on the advisory board of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Other positions she has held or currently holds include Ambassador of the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), Advisory Board Member of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity, University of Vienna, Austria, since 2018, Patron of the Storymoja International (Literary) Festival, Kenya , Board Member of the Jim Button Foundation, Board of Trustees of the Jacobs Foundation 2011 - 2015, Board of Trustees of Stiftung Lesen, 2015 - 2017, Alumni of the Bellagio Centre Residency Program of the Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio, Italy 2016. Dr Obama is also the initiator of the Sauti Kuu Act Now Award, which was launched in Berlin in 2015. The event recognised children and youth who are making a difference through their social, humanitarian and environmental work. Dr Obama has been awarded numerous prizes for her humanitarian work, including the Prix Courage. Dr Obama is also an award-winning international speaker who has lectured widely around the world on sustainable socio-economic growth and development, with a particular focus on the relationship between the 'developed' and 'developing' worlds.