Sarah Idan

Sarah Abdali Idan (; born 4 February 1990) is an Iraqi-American model, television host, musician, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned as Miss Universe Iraq 2017 and represented Iraq at the Miss Universe 2017 pageant. After moving to the United States, in May 2023, Idan declared her candidacy for California's 30th congressional district in 2024. She defines herself as a secular Muslim, a supporter of Israel Early life Idan was born and raised in Baghdad to parents who were from the provinces of Babylon and Qadisiyah. When she was 13, Sarah taught herself English by listening to western music. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Sarah temporarily moved with her family to neighbouring Syria fleeing the civil war but eventually returned to Iraq a few years later. Her proficiency in English gave her the opportunity to work as a linguist for the US military at the age of 18. She also joined the US-led Coalition forces stationed around Baghdad in 2009. The job allowed her to help her people and the US Government reduce the gap between the two cultures and gave her a good deal of experience in interacting with people from diverse backgrounds and high profile individuals at an early age. She later moved to the US and started working and going to school. Sarah graduated from Musicians Institute in performance arts in Hollywood, Los Angeles with emphasis on jazz and contemporary music. She describes herself as not very religious but more spiritual and a secular Muslim. Career Music In 2007, while living as a refugee in Syria, Idan attended a live concert of Enrique Iglesias in Damascus and realized that moment she wanted to be a musician. She met with Enrique and his band after the concert and became friend with pianist Michael Bluestein (member of the rock band Foreigner) whom she remained friends with through email. In 2014 they met again and performed together in a live jam in Los Angeles. Idan is a vocalist and can sing in English and Arabic.