[2] She felt different from most of her classmates, who wanted to obtain jobs on Wall Street, and finished a program in French literature.
[3] In 2001, Abdi moved back to Ethiopia and directed her first documentary, The River That Divides, exploring the daily life of Ethiopian women during the Eritrean–Ethiopian War.
In 2001, she produced the short film The Father by Ermias Woldeamlak, examining African familial relations.
Abdi worked with Abderrahmane Sissako as a producer and costume designer on his films Waiting for Happiness (2003) and Bamako (2006).
She had planned to create such a festival for several years but eventually received funding from the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Olivier Poivre d'Arvor.