Ranya Forgotson
Director of The Curbside Chronicle at the Homeless Alliance
Ranya Forgotson hails from Norman, Oklahoma and serves as Director of The Curbside Chronicle at the Homeless Alliance. The Curbside Chronicle is a magazine that employs people experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City. Ranya co-founded the magazine during her junior year at the University of Oklahoma with the hope of helping people experiencing homelessness earn an income and transition into housing. Since its launch, The Curbside Chronicle has helped over 100 individuals find stability and end their homelessness in Oklahoma City. Ranya is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a BA in Marketing in 2014. In the summer of 2017, Ranya co-founded her second social enterprise, Sasquatch Shaved Ice, in the Plaza District of Oklahoma City with her husband Whitley O'Connor. Sasquatch Shaved Ice employs low-income youth in Oklahoma City and helps its teen employees prepare for high school graduation and future career success through supportive programming. Ranya is passionate about social entrepreneurship and the creativity of finding solutions to social problems through business. She also loves a good pot of Moroccan tea and her four cats.