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-050- 'OMAN OF THE YEA KIMYA LODER WORDS: Ayron Lewallen PHOTOGRAPHY: J ames Jones When one thinks of an underdog, Kimya Loder may not the first per son who comes to mind. She says that she has experienced what it feels like to be an underdog first hand. She remembers her biggest challenge always being overcom ing imposter syndrome, which she describes as not feeling like she has done enough or feeling like she did not deserve to be in certain spaces. She believes that the AUC is a place where people places others on a pedestal for the smallest things—and some times the biggest things. How ever, those on the outside do not see the insecurities that one may face. “Having impostor syndrome sometimes makes me feel like the underdog, but I just have to consistently remind myself every day—like everybody else—that I am enough and that I have earned this and that I have to continue to work hard and push myself.” She describes being an underdog as the constant urge one feels of never being where he or she wants to be, never knowing enough, never being good enough, and not having enough for a particu lar moment or situation that one is placed in. Now that she is pre paring for graduate school, she is constantly asking herself how can she read more and how can she prepare herself so she does not fall into that space “looking crazy.” "The reality is that I won’t look crazy because they wouldn’t have accepted me if they didn’t think I was prepared to go in. On the flip side, I’ve have had to remind my self that there’s no such thing as being good enough in the sense of the future, but I have to be content with where I am now.” Loder is a senior Sociology and International Studies double ma jor from Birmingham, Ala., a city that she says was integral to cul tivating her love for service. She remembers feeling surrounded by the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement such as the children’s marches and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. She also comes from a family that is active in the community as well within the city council and neigh borhood boards. Loder is heavily involved in her community. She is a proud mem ber of Delta Sigma Theta Sorori ty, Inc. She is a Bonner Scholar and joined SGA her senior year as co-director of leadership and civic engagement where she took her passion for service and civic engagement and created cam- pus-wide efforts to civically en gaged in the West End commu nity. During her freshman year, she also began developing an orga nization called Children’s Village Market, a program dedicated to child nutrition and advocacy in the West End community. This student-led program provides snack bags for student with di etary supplements when they were not receiving two meals per day from their school. Passionate about her studies, Loder managed to maintain a strong GPA and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa her junior year. She will graduate in the top 10 of her class with summa cum laude honors. Loder was accepted into a total of eight Ph.D. programs including Harvard, Northwestern, Brown and Princeton Universi ties. As a UNCF Mellon Mays Under graduate Fellow, Loder discov ered her passion for research. She has conducted research at Emory through Mellon Mays pro gram. Through this program, she studied abroad for a semester in Tunisia during her junior year, which she attributes to playing a pivotal role in her development at Spelman. While abroad, she gathered data that she utilized to seek admission to graduate school—an accomplishment that she is most proud of. Her research in Tunisia was a culmination of work done over four years. She initially wanted to study youth activism in the Arab Spring; however, when she ar rived, she noticed that there were other issues that had not been explored such as racial dynam ics of the country. Her research is important to her because she branched out and studied an other cultural contexts, which required her to change her ideas and views on race within and out side of the United States. She also realizes that she shed light on an issue that would not have been explored, which is the activ ism of Black Tunisians who have been marginalized in the country. To Loder, being recognized as Woman of the Year is less about what she has accomplished and more about the light that other people have seen in her along the way. She says that she al ways wants people to feel like she sees them, embraces them, talks to them and learns about their experiences.. She attributes everything that she has achieved to her village and support system comprised of her family, friends, line sisters and professors such as Dr. Ashante Reese and Dr. Cynthia Nelson. “I live by the motto that every thing I do and accomplish is for the purpose of me pouring that back out into the community that raised me and into my village. I love my city with my heart, and Birmingham is still so much in me that I push myself to the extent that do so that I can give back and be a part of a commu nal uplift of that community.” Upon graduating from Spelman, Loder will attend Stanford Uni versity to obtain her Ph.D. in So ciology. She aspires to become a college professor and teach sociology as she would like to be at the forefront of creating knowl edge and transferring it to other individuals. She desires to influ ence students during that pivotal period in their lives. THE YEAR OF THE UNDERDOG WOMAN OF THE YEAR