Manizha Dalerovna Sangin (Russian: Мани́жа Дале́ровна Санги́н; née Khamrayeva [Russian: Хамра́ева; Tajik: Ҳамроева]; born 8 July 1991), known professionally as simply Manizha, is a Russian-Tajik singer and songwriter, as well as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Beginning her career in 2003 as a child singer, Manizha went on to perform with the music groups Ru.Kola, Assai, and Krip De Shin, before later pursuing a solo career. She represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Russian Woman".

Manizha was born on 8 July 1991 in Dushanbe to parents Najiba Usmanova, a psychologist and clothing designer, and a father who worked as a doctor.^[1] Her parents are divorced, and her father did not want Manizha to begin a singing career due to believing it was not a suitable career choice for a Muslim woman.^[2] Manizha's grandfather was Toji Usmon [tg; ru], a Tajik writer and journalist, with a monument dedicated to his honor in Khujand.^[3] Her great-grandmother was one of the first women in Tajikistan to remove her veil and begin a career of her own; in response to this, she had her children removed from her care, although she later was able to return to them and begin working outside of the home.^[4][5] Manizha changed her surname from Khamrayeva to Sangin in order to honor her grandmother, who was one of the first people who encouraged her to pursue music.^[1]

In 1994, Manizha and her family fled Tajikistan due to the Tajikistani Civil War, subsequently settling in Moscow. After arriving in Moscow, Manizha began studying at a music school, where she studied piano. She afterward left the school to begin training with private vocal coaches.^[3] Manizha studied psychology at the Russian State University for the Humanities.^[1]

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In 2017, Manizha began posting unedited photos of herself with the hashtag #TheTraumaOfBeauty and captions discussing her struggles with her body image.^[31][32] At her concert on the roof of the Château de Fantomas in Moscow, Manizha took off her stage makeup and invited the public to join this manifesto. She distributed wet wipes to those who wanted to.^{[citation needed]}

Manizha supports various charitable foundations: she performed at the charity festival "Anton is here near" 2017, organised by the foundation helping autistic children; at the closing of the IX World Children's Games of the winners of 2018, organized by the "Give Life" Foundation helping children with cancer; took part in the "Star of Kindness" charity event in support of the "Children butterflies" and others.

In February 2019, Manizha launched a social campaign against domestic violence. As part of this project, she released a free mobile application called Silsila (in Persian - "thread") to help victims of domestic violence.^[32] The app allows users to quickly call for help in an emergency using the panic button and offers a list of the nearest crisis centers and shelters in which to hide. Not all the centers that the team listed had been tested, only some of them can be contacted regardless of gender, nationality and documents. In support of the campaign, together with the director Lado Quatania ("HypeProduction"), a video was released for the song "Mama" (Russian and English versions). The video raises the problem of domestic violence against women and adolescents, as well as the problems of transformation from a child to an adult. The video provides statistics on the scale of the problem of violence in Russia. Manizha's team collects their own statistics. The project was created without the support of the state, third-party companies or funds.^{[citation needed]} Manizha's mother sold her apartment to help pay for the app.^[32]

Manizha also actively supports the LGBT community. In 2019, she starred in a video for the Russian online queer magazine "Otkritiye" ("Open") during Pride Month. ^{[citation needed] [33]} After that, as the singer admits, about 10 thousand people unsubscribed from her Instagram. In 2020, she sang her version of Cher's song "Believe" during the Otkritiye's Digital Pride.^[34] In the autumn of the same year, she performed at the Queerfest in St. Petersburg.

In October 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced Manizha as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR.^[35]

On 9 December 2021, Manizha visited Almaty, Kazakhstan in honour of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.^[36]

On 24 February 2022, Manizha stated her opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine via an Instagram post, referring to her husband and sister-in-law's Ukrainian background.^[23] Her opposition to the war led to her facing a campaign to have her blacklisted, leading to several promoters cancelling her performances after government supporters began posting personal information of concert organizers.^[37]

On 6 September 2022, Manizha announced her marriage to film director Lado Kvataniya. Together they have a daughter, born in July 2023.^[38]