How 'Grown-ish' star Yara Shahidi plans to expand her activism in 2019
“Grown-ish” star Yara Shahidi not only cast her first ballot last year, but she also started a movement to encourage other millennials to do the same.
After her Eighteen x 18 initiative helped make young people a political force in the 2018 midterms, Shahidi, 18, has set an even bigger goal for 2019: to increase civic engagement for her generation.
"The youth vote was incredible this last midterms, which was so inspiring because you see that in no way am I the anomaly," Shahidi said Wednesday on "Good Morning America." "So many of my peers are so motivated to make change on their community level and then on a larger scale."
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"I feel like it was a beautiful way to move into this new year," she added.
Shahidi plans to grow her Eighteen x 18 initiative by holding live salons and even larger events. The initiative's first #WeVoteNext Summit, held last year, drew more than 120 delegates from across the country.
"I feel like the goal is continue to express how civic engagement is an everyday activity and as much as voting is important, how we can express power within our communities and help our communities as well," Shahidi explained.
Shahidi, who turns 19 next month, is balancing her political activism with her acting career. She is starring in the second season of "Grown-ish" as Zoey Johnson, who is entering her sophomore year of college.
Shahidi, who was accepted at Harvard in 2017, said she uses Zoey as an example in her own life of "what not to do" in college.
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"It's really useful," she said with a laugh. "When I tell you, I give great college advice to my friends because I'm like, ‘Oh, we just did this last episode.’ And it's so nice because she gets into so much trouble that I have like advice for like every situation possible."
Season two of "Grown-ish" premieres Wednesday, Jan. 2, on Freeform at 8 p.m. ET.
