"I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the story of many girls..." 

Malala Yousafzai was born in Mingora, Pakistan on July 12, 1997. She loved school, and was fortunate enough to have a father who ran a girls' school in her village. Ziauddin Yousafzai was determined to give his young daughter the chance to gain an education, yet these ambitions were difficult to attain in a country that did not hold women in the same place as men.

When the Taliban assumed control of Malala's small town in Swat Valley, everything changed. The Taliban were a military group intent on following strict Islamic traditions. They banned things like music, television, and even dancing. But the worst of their prohibitions-girls were denied the right to go to school. 

Malala was devastated. In January 2009 the eleven-year-old said goodbye to her classmates unsure if she would ever see them again. By the end of 2008, the Taliban had destroyed 400 schools and Malala's dreams of learning and helping her community were shattered. She felt broken like the shards of timber and drywall that remained from the Taliban's vicious gunfire. 

Finally Malala had enough. Being eleven years old, she knew that she didn't have the strength to resist the Taliban physically or even publicly, but there were other ways a determined girl like Malala could show the Taliban. Show them that women are not easily pushed around.

Malala started writing for the BBC in early 2009, writing anonymously under the name "Gul Makai". She wrote about her experiences and her desire to attend school. Although her family was forced to leave their hometown due to rising tension, Malala continued to write and even joined her father in a campaign for girls' education. In 2011, Malala received Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize for her courage.

The blow that would truly test Malala's bravery came on October 9, 2012. Malala had boarded the bus and was on her way home from school with her friends when two members of the Taliban stopped the vehicle and demanded to see Malala. It was not long before they identified the fifteen-year-old and shot her in the head. Blood seeped into her white headscarf and stained her uniform.