Maryan Seylac

Maryan Seylac (sometimes referred to as Marian Zeila; born 1987) is a Somali journalist, women's rights activist as well as founder and Executive Director of the Somali Women Media Association (SOMWA).

Background and education Seylac was born in Baidoa to a father who was a teacher. She later started out as a news anchor at a local radio station, and received on-the-job training as she worked at a number of local stations in the cities of Baidoa, Mogadisho and Bosaso.

Seylac left Somalia for Kenya and then England in 2009 due to insecurity in Somalia and after receiving a number of death threats from Al-Shabab militants on account of her being a female media practitioner.