Student Athlete by Day, Activist by Night

By Julianne Earle

Aisha McAdams, a tri-season athlete, loves to be physically active, but her real passion is for activism – specifically in Nicaragua.

McAdams, a junior at Stonehill College, took a seminar her sophomore year that changed her outlook on life, as well as her career choices during her time at Stonehill. The course was an integrative seminar entitled “Women’s Global Issues” with Professors Jennifer Swanson and Monique Myers.

A self-identified feminist, McAdams said she fell in love with the class so much that she switched her career path from public relations to “person-driven impact through marketing.”

Photo by Michael Scott

Because the course focused on the inequality of women and often recruited speakers to fundraise for organizations for disadvantaged women, McAdams said she felt a call to action, starting with an organization she has very close ties to in Nicaragua called Mustard Seeds.

Mustard Seeds is a nonprofit organization in Nicaragua that offers refuge for poverty stricken women, where they are offered education, job training, and necessities for survival.

The women of Mustard Seeds learn to sew with large pieces of fabrics that they make into bags, which are sold to local citizens. Of the money raised, 60-percent goes directly to the women who made them.

So why does McAdams feel so inclined to make ties to this organization? Her first exposure to the organization came at a very young age from her childhood teammate’s mom, Mary-Beth Nunnery.

Nunnery visits Nicaragua yearly over winter break, bringing back approximately 500 hand-made bags to sell to raise money for the women at Mustard Seeds. Inspired by Nunnery, McAdams plans to do something similar.

“Growing up, I had a dysfunctional family, and Mary-Beth was like my second mom. I never would’ve gone to Stonehill without my caretakers growing up. People like her have gotten me to where I am today. Now it’s about paying it forward,” McAdams said.

McAdams hopes to connect the non-profit and the integrative seminar at Stonehill by putting the coursework into action by selling the bags, ranging from $5-$35, during spring semester.

“It’s still in the baby stages, but I’m working on it,” McAdams said.

McAdams also hopes to pursue an internship in Mustard Seeds’ local office in Medfield, M.A., next semester.