Congratulations to Sheden, who is Friends of CRLS’s 2019 awardee of both the Earl M. Gardner Scholarship and the Maria J. Tavares Memorial Scholarship. Sheden is enrolled in the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston and aspires to be a business leader:
“I am not only a woman, but I am a Muslim woman of color, and my goal is to work on improving the lack of inclusion in the business world for women of color in America. I would like to prove to young girls that the weight of constant criticism should not keep women away from sharing their gifts with the world. Since the age of fourteen, I have pursued job opportunities, and working has given me insight into the business world. Working has helped me make discoveries that I may have never learned of if I were restricted by the thoughts and ideas of others. Other people’s assumptions should not dictate over one’s life, but, in fact, as a motivator for self success.”