GL: What advice would you give young people who might be apathetic about the political process?Īmelie: Unfortunately, it’s easy to not care. I would be doing a great disservice if I was not educating my audience about the issues that affect them most. Having a lot of followers comes with a lot of responsibility. You have to meet people where they are to be able to catch their attention.and it’s more likely that someone is going to be scrolling Instagram than they’re going to be signing up for a weekly email newsletter. Speaking about politics on social media was exactly what I needed to do to reach Gen Z. My platform grew in tandem with the voice that I had started to create for myself. I never had the intention of getting famous by doing anything other than just saying what I had to say. GL: You’ve amassed a large social media following with 10 million followers across all platforms. Why do you think it is so important to use your platform to speak up about issues that are important to you?Īmelie: I started my platform as a space to raise awareness. Let’s pay attention & hold officials accountable ♬ original sound - Amelie Zilber So I owe my interest in politics to my competitiveness and a history teacher that I had in tenth grade. That really opened up a whole new world of political interest that otherwise I might not have paid much attention to. He was from the Middle East and when he noticed that I had a passion for the Middle East, he drove me to keep studying that. I also had a great professor in high school who inspired me to learn more about a certain area of politics that really inspired me. That newsletter lasted six and a half years and working on it grew my interest in politics even more. In response, I created a newsletter that aimed to educate young people in a way that inspired them. Given the fact that we were all 12-year-olds, it’s understandable, but it made me realize that that was an undissected space in the world of politics. From that, I realized that when I would try to talk to my friends about these issues, they would have no idea what I was talking about.
I got really feisty about it, so I took it upon myself to dive into politics so I could outshine my brother at the dinner table. We would always have conversations about political issues at the dinner table and as a sixth-grader, I wasn’t really able to contribute like my brother was. I founded the Two Minute Times because, as a little sister, I was super competitive with my brother who is a year and a half older than me. When I was 12 years old, I started a political newsletter called The Two Minute Times.
GL: What prompted your interest in politics?Īmelie: My interest in politics started from a really young age. Every episode is so powerful in it’s own way. There are so many conversations that I don’t think I can name just one, which is kind of ironic, because each episode took like three hours of conversation to film. There is also one on consent and empowerment that is also going to be incredibly moving. There’s one episode on combating inequality that is going to be amazing. I think some have more intensity than others. The show is entirely directed toward Gen Z and aims to inspire young people to educate themselves and get more involved in politics and political issues.Īmelie: Oh goodness, I don’t know if I can choose! They’re all really powerful in their own ways. We dive into social issues-whether that be universal health care, colorism or mental health-and we focus on issues that are directly affecting young people today. It features roundtable discussions held by me and three other young people. When we caught up with Amelie, we chatted about her political activism, biggest inspirations and why it is cool to care.Īmelie: Don’t Me is a show that is produced by Facebook. Created in collaboration with Facebook, Don't Me is airing across the platform's family of apps. The content creator, model and activist recently launched a new roundtable talk show with digital studio Brat TV called Don't Me, which follows Amelie as she sits down with a panel of Gen Z activists to discuss pressing issues affecting today's youth. The teen has also garnered an impressive online following with over 10 million followers across all social media platforms.
A champion for engaging youth in the political process, Amelie has worked with the Biden-Harris campaign, volunteered with voting nonprofits and served as a youth ambassador for UNICEF. At just 19 years old, Amelie has amassed an impressive resume. When she's not walking in runway shows or attending high-profile events, Amelie Zilber is using her platform to educate young people on the issues that affect their everyday lives.
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