Yaa Asantewaa Scholarship Fund

In 2023, I paid off $133,000 in student loan debt. That experience showed me firsthand how much debt shapes a life — where you live, what risks you can take, when you feel ready to build a future. Educational debt hits Black women harder than any other group. We carry the highest average student loan balances in the country, and that debt directly limits our upward mobility and financial freedom. That's why I launched the Yaa Asantewaa Scholarship, a $3,000 award for a Black graduate student in social work, public health, STEM, or social justice, named after the Ghanaian queen mother who led with unshakeable courage. After launching, people reached out wanting to give more than I'd planned for. That told me this mission matters beyond just me. My goal: grow this into a sustained fund that can award more scholarships each cycle, support students consistently year after year. At its core, this is about closing a well-documented gap and turning my own financial freedom into leverage for someone else's