In 2012, Amal performed "This is for the Ladies" at an Overland High School poetry slam in Aurora. She won first place, which put her on the short list to make the 2012 Minor Disturbance slam team.
As part of the Minor Disturbance team, Amal competed at the 2012 Brave New Voices festival in the Bay Area that July. For the last poem of the night at the Grand Slam Finals, she and teammate Ashlynn Damers performed "Syria," a poem they'd written together. The performance earned them a perfect thirty points, helping Minor Disturbance win their first Brave New Voices Grand Slam.
The YouTube video of the "Syria" performance spread far and wide, and soon numerous organizations were reaching out to Amal. She began performing all around the country, including at this Syria rally in Washington, D.C.
More from our Art archive circa February 2009: "Meet the MasterMinds: Year 1."