Know more about Fartun Weli.
Fartunweli.com | Podcast Host | Cultural Visionary
Fartun Weli, MPH
FartunWeli.com bridges culture, health, and justice—turning lived experience into systems change. Fartun Weli, MPH—a Somali American visionary, cultural broker, and founder of Isuroon— partners with healthcare organizations, courts, governments, and diverse teams to eliminate disparities and build trust. With 20+ years leading culturally specific programs serving thousands of East African families, she delivers trainings, coaching, and strategies on maternal health, FGC awareness, pain bias, legal navigation, and intergenerational communication. Through the Fartun Weli Podcast, she creates honest spaces for taboo conversations—mental health, infertility, faith, and women's leadership—honoring community while challenging harm. Her mission: Equip institutions to see, listen, and serve real people, not stereotypes. The result? Families thrive, mothers survive childbirth with dignity, and systems evolve toward equity and belonging. With 20+ years in healthcare and nonprofit leadership (CEO of Isuroon), Fartun bridges gaps and empowers growth through culturally relevant strategies. Expertise includes:
- Cultural Competency Training (60+ curriculums developed)
- Leadership Coaching
- Intergenerational & Intercultural Communication
- Mult-generation Team Leadership
- CBPR (Community-Based Participatory Research)
- Doula Support & Maternal Health
- Nonprofit Management & Advocacy
- Civic Engagement & Community Empowerment
About Fartun Weli
Personal Introduction
Fartun Weli is motivated by a single question: Who is still unseen—and how do we bring them forward? Her work honors dignity, truth-telling, independence (isuroon), and radical compassion for immigrant women and families navigating hostile systems.
From Somali medical interpreter to health IT trainer, Fartun saw firsthand how language and cultural gaps caused misdiagnosis and harm. In 2010, she founded Isuroon from her apartment during personal crisis—infertility, stigma, poverty—scaling it to 38 staff, $1.6M+ budget, serving 10k+ families yearly with halal food, health equity, and civic engagement.
Defining moments shaped her path: Surviving war as a child, losing her father, and turning grief into a triage-to-mobility model for her community.
Lived Experience & Perspective
War, migration, infertility, and rebuilding as a single mother shaped Fartun’s fierce clarity.
She balances MPH expertise with raw story—data shows disparities; her life explains them. This dual lens spots what others miss: cultural taboos blocking cervical screenings, religious needs ignored in courts, pain bias punishing Black mothers.Defining moments shaped her path: Surviving war as a child, losing her father, and turning grief into a triage-to-mobility model for her community.
Areas of Expertise
- Cultural competency training (60+ curricula)
- Maternal health, doulas, FGC/cervical cancer barriers
- Intercultural family and team communication
- CBPR, nonprofit leadership, civic empowerment
- Coaching first-generation women leaders
The ultimate
The Podcast – My Why
Fartun Weli Podcast and Guubaabo: Service for the Soul fill the silence around mental health, parenting, and women's leadership in East African homes. Launched to heal whispers into public truth, it blends faith, story, and tools for Somali families, providers, and allies. Listeners gain courage to change homes and systems.
Projects & Initiatives
- Isuroon: Halal food shelf (80k+ lbs/year), mental health support, housing and legal aid, workforce programs
- Minnesota Ethnic Providers Network: Uniting culturally specific organizations for policy wins
- Speaking & Training: TEDx Minneapolis, trainings for hospitals, courts, philanthropy
Who Fartun Serves
Healthcare, courts, legal professionals, agencies, and schools bridging gaps with immigrants, refugees, Muslims, Black, and LGBTQ+ communities.
Case Themes:
- Language failures leading to misdiagnosis or harm in healthcare
- Maternal disparities—Somali mothers navigating pregnancy, birth, and postpartum
- Bias in pain management and drug testing standards
- Building trust with LGBTQ+ communities in faith-based and immigrant contexts
- Religious and cultural needs in court systems and legal processes
- Barriers in legal representation for refugees and immigrants
- FGC and healthcare—provider ignorance retraumatizing women
- Cervical cancer screening disparities in FGC-affected communities
Collaboration & Partnerships
Fartun seeks humble partners ready to share power—health systems, faith groups, researchers, and media platforms valuing dignity and community-led change.
Impact & Future Vision
Success means stopping the poverty conveyor belt for women and families through culturally responsive programs that deliver true financial independence and wellbeing across all social determinants of health.
- Train 50,000 professionals to move from cultural functional illiteracy to full fluency in serving immigrant, refugee, and East African communities
- Achieve 90% reduction in health and service access barriers through policy changes, community-led programs, and system redesign
- Over the next decade: Fewer women choosing between culture and survival; ethnic networks lead as funded equals; daughters inherit opportunity, not obligation
Proudest achievements:
One-woman apartment startup now transforms thousands of families yearly while staying rooted in community and faith.
Expert People
Meet our hosts
Fartun Weli
Founder
Our Testimonials
Reviews from Listeners
Listening to Fartun Weli’s podcast feels like being guided with clarity, compassion, and deep understanding. Every episode leaves me informed and empowered.
Shirley Smith
Fartun brings complex conversations to life in a way that is thoughtful, respectful, and easy to understand. This podcast is a must-listen for anyone who cares about people-centered solutions.
Aleesha Smith
The insights shared on the Fartun Weli Podcast are powerful and practical. It’s more than a podcast — it’s a space for learning, reflection, and meaningful dialogue.
Mike Hardson