Seneca Joyner
Position: President

Seneca is a PhD candidate in the History Department. She earned her undergraduate degrees in History and Anthropology from Georgia State University in 2004 and her Master's Degree from Northeastern in 2008. Her research focuses on black women’s experience of race, gender, and modernity in urban Latin America and the Caribbean-- where she lived for a time & continues to travel extensively. She collects dresses, speculative fiction, glassware, and records from the 1960s. She's also a great cook & likes to dance. Currently working full-time towards completing her dissertation, “Knowing Her Place: Afro-Latinas and the geographies of modernity, respectability, and femininity in Caracas, Venezuela, 1870-1935", Seneca hopes to finish and defend her thesis in May 2013.

Aishatu Yusuf
Position: Vice President

Aishatu is second- year MPA student with an emphasis on education and economic policy. She currently holds a B.S in Political Science and Intercultural Communications from the University of Utah (GO UTES). She is currently an Opportunity Nation Scholar and working toward creating better policy practices for homeless families in Massachusetts. Upon completion of her degree she plans to relocate and pursue a career working to create better educational practices for all children and youth, particularly in communities of color and the socially marginalized. She enjoys all genres of music, and when not in school or working she likes to exercise- really do any sports activity, read, go to farmers’ markets, travel, and socialize.

Shafiqah Faust
Position: Co - Vice President

Shafiqah graduated from Spelman College with a BS in Mathematics. At Spelman College, she was a Bonner Scholar, a highly-competitive, rigorous service based scholarship program. She is currently entering her second year as a student in the MURP program, Shafiqah has joined the team at the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute at Northeastern University, where she will execute civic engagement programs and assist with strategic planning for this academic school year. She is also interning at Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), where she works directly with the Financial Futures Initiative (FFI).

LaTasha Smith
Position: Secretary

LaTasha is currently a second year MPA student with an interest in media & policy, particularly in the area of promoting educational access to women in developing nations. She received her B.S. in Journalism from the University of Georgia in 2008. LaTasha currently works as the Communication Manager at the Boston-based Nonprofit,  Families United in Educational Leadership (FUEL), and serves as a mentor with the Big Sister Association of Boston. She is a foodie who also enjoys thrifting, backpacking, house music and Nina Simone, track and field, and basketball.

Marlisha Aho
Position: Treasurer

Marlishia Aho hails from the great state of Florida, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Marketing at the University of Florida. Since her arrival in Massachusetts in 2007, Marlishia has worked as a Communications Specialist at 1199SEIU to advance the ideals of working families. Currently Marlishia is pursuing her Master’s in Public Administration at Northeastern and hopes to combine her experience and education to further her career in social justice advocacy. In her free time, Marlishia enjoys traveling to distant lands, reading and spending time with her friends.