FALL/WINTER 2021
Young Alumni Spotlight: Tiffany Saade is going places - and is taking Lebanon with her. On September 15th 2021, a young woman with the Lebanese flag tied around her shoulders stepped out onto the stage at Stanford’s famous Frost Amphitheatre. She reached the podium and smiled and waved to the sea of students, faculty, and staff below. For the next 15 minutes, the crowd listened, raptured, as she spoke candidly and passionately about the Beirut Blast, the current humanitarian crisis, and why it is important to keep talking about, and fighting for, Lebanon and its people. It was not, as one might assume, an audience of 4,000 that made the Stanford University sophomore Tiffany Saade ‘20 nervous that day. “It was very stressful,” she stated. “Not because I had to speak in front of 4,000 people, I mean of course that was a factor, but because I am the only Lebanese in my class.” Saade (who some may remember as the young author who published a poetry collection in her junior year at IC) is one of three Lebanese undergraduates at the university. “It was a pressure for me to uphold the name of Lebanon… Lebanese people rely on the diaspora to speak about the struggles that are happening back home. And with the media here in the US being very westernized and politically biased, it’s very important to have someone from the people speak for everything back home.” At the end of her speech, the crowd erupted into applause. It was hugely successful - and the message clearly resonated with the Stanford community. “I would be just casually walking around campus and a lot of people stopped me to tell me that they loved the speech, but also that they want to know more. This is why we speak in public about these issues. People care, but people don’t know enough because the media makes it a trend. Talking about Lebanon is not a trend.” A recent ‘frosh’ (freshman) herself, 18-year-old Tiffany was the youngest speaker of six selected by Stanford’s Faces program to address the incoming freshman class of 2025. The program seeks students with inspirational and impactful stories to share their experiences and to share what Stanford has meant to them. Needless to say, Tiffany fit the bill. In August 2020, Tiffany’s life was uprooted not once, but twice. In the immediate wake of the Beirut blast, Tiffany travelled 11,718 km to begin a new chapter of her life in sunny California. She left behind her beloved family, friends, and city during a time of great turmoil to, as she states, “start writing the first paragraphs” of her chapter on her own.
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