Celebrated the new year with my beloved mentor, the woman who challenges me to be as unapologetically African as possible, Dr Fuambai Ahmadu (medical anthropologist/pro-female circumcision activist). Being able to stand firmly in one's truth is always a commendable trait, even if it means going against the grain in Western academia. While everyone else frames African women as children or victims of our own cultures in need of Western saving, she restores the agency taken away from African women. She teaches that African women are just as capable as Western women to come to their own conclusions about what they want, no matter how beneficial or risky. This includes the choice to be circumcised for cosmetic/cultural reasons, which should be available to women. I reached out to her as a junior in Penn State to invite her to give a lecture, but despite the fact that college is a place for erudite people to challenge their biases and question things, the school which was supported by anti-FGM activists shut every one of my plans down. As they put it, "What she's teaching is problematic." I never understood how Ben Shapiro and white-supremacist Richard Spencer were able to get funding to lecture at Penn State, but Ahmadu's presence waswas problematic. Regardless, we've been friends ever since. I'm SOOO honored to have been her research assistant this year and looking forward to more opportunities for us in the future! #WomenEmpowerment #AfricanWomen