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Although she originally did not
attend Spelman College, Bahee-
jah Crumbley has managed to
create a name for herself in the
Atlanta University Center (AUC).
Originally, she attended Monclair
State University, but after seeing
her friend Ahmad Dent post his
accomplishments that came from
attending the Morhouse, Crumb-
ley decided to create those mo
ments for herself by attending.
While at Spelman, Crumbley has
served as the President of the
Economics Club, Vice-President
of the Community Foundation for
Financial Literacy, a mentor in
Spelman Proteges, a mentor in
the Big Sister, Little Sister Eco
nomics Club Program, and an
unofficial mentor to some girls on
campus.
"I keep meeting alum who I wish
I’d known earlier who I wished
could’ve held my hand as I’m
holding other girls' hand,” Ba-
heejah said. “Especially from
the Econ Club, I started that Big
Sister, Little Sister mentorship
program because there’s a gap
in the knowledge between the
upperclassmen and the under
classmen, so I’m really trying to
bridge that gap. When I reflect
which I do quarterly, I realize that
all I want to do is help my young
er Spelman sisters, and it’s what
I’ve been trying to do.”
From all the lessons she’s learned
from her mentors, Baheejah has
been able to accomplish things
such as being accepted into pro
grams such as the Black Rock
Scholarship program, JP Morgan
Launching Leaders Program, and
Suntrust Diversity Summit. Even
though she has had many suc
cesses, she has learned how to
“fail successfully” and what do
after doing so.
“You go out and you try different
things. You either get it or you
don’t, but you always learn from
it. You learn how to do better.”
Crumbley said.
From applying that philosophy,
Crumbley was hired to work for JP
Morgan to be a Corporate Client
Banker after attending the Exec
utive Leadership Council’s sym
posium and gala. JP Morgan was
at the event to interview some
students, but Baheejah wasn’t on
the list. However, she didn’t let
that stop her.
“I knew one of the people who
worked there and I told him I
wanted to interview.” Baheejah
said. “He told me to just go down
there and ask to be interviewed.
That was really were preparation
met opportunity.”
Throughout her time at Spelman,
Chloe Blackmon has studied Biol
ogy with the hopes to go into den
tistry afterwards. While at Spel
man she has been able to come
into herself through the school
and other things.
"Spelman for me has been an
awakening,” Blackmon said. “It
forces you to learn about the en
vironments that you thrive in, the
kind of people that you need to
surround yourself with, and the
spaces that you do best with,
and I think that’s what’s been
the most beneficial. Coming into
Spelman I had a desire to find
something within myself.
“I wanted to get things from
Spelman, but I also wanted Spel
man to help me find things within
myself.”
Ever since, she started taking
yoga classes during her freshman
year at Spelmana, Blackmon has
been able to “tap into [her] pow
er” and take time for herself, but
above all it has given her an out
let to overcome challenges that
may be in her way.
“I think probably towards
the beginning of my Spelman ex
perience I felt something called
imposter syndrome - not feeling
worthy, not feeling like I deserved
to be here, kind of feeling like
I was in a race and got left be
hind,” Chloe said. “I feel like a
lot of people feel that way. One
way I was able to overcome that
was through my yoga practice,
constantly reminding myself that
I am strong, constantly reminding
myself that I’m worthy and just
constantly going inward and step
ping into my power.”
By overcoming these
obstacles, Chloe has been able to
make accomplishments that have
benefited her holistically such as
being interning at Howard’s den
tal school, being the president of
the Student Health Associates of
Peer Educators at Spelman, be
ing at lead volunteer for Red Clay
Yoga, working at the Wellness
Center, being a member of Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporat
ed ETA Kappa Chapter, and so
much more.
As a career, Blackmon
aspires to be dentist. Her inter
est originated from when she got
braces during middle school and
was fascinated with how they
work, but the love for it became
deeper.
“I want to be a dentist be
cause I really love personal con
nections,” Chloe said. “Health
has always been something that
I’m immersed in, but I really love
that dentistry gives you the oppor
tunity to really connect with your
patients. After graduation, I most
likely will be going to Georgetown
University because they have a
master’s in Biophysics program,
and it is focused in complemen
tary and alternative medicine.”
Whether it be playing instruments
from a young age, being involved
in her schools' arts programs, or
listening the music her parents
would play, Eboni Ellis has been
involved in music. Coming out
of Spelman she has more than a
creator. She has paved the way
and created a space for those
that follow the same musical path
as her.
However, music wasn't initially
her pursuit until she got Spel
man.
“It didn’t really click that I want
ed to work in music until I got
to Spelman, and I just saw how
I was being pushed to do things
that were straightforward and cut
and clean,” Ellis said. “And I
didn't want to do that.”
By going against the grain, she
was led to create the Spelman
College Women in Hip-Hop Col
lective. After working for a record
label, Ellis found that people were
looking for people from “HBCU’s
and urban communities" to work
in the music industry. While this
organization was the legacy that
she wanted to leave behind at
Spelman, it wasn’t about her.
“It’s just about making sure that
other Spelman students and
other AUC [Atlanta University
Center] students in general have
the support that other major and
other fields do,” Eboni said. “My
goal was to make sure that peo
ple know there are students that
want to work, are ready to work,
and that can work. None of it is
even about me, I’m always think
ing about other people and put
ting people in the position to win
by their terms.”
Being a servant leader is some
thing that Ellis isn’t a stranger
to because aside from assisting
students in the AUC she has also
dedicated her time to working
with the community.
“I’m on staff at Hip-Hop Gives
Back,” Ellis said. “My favorite ac
tivity every Black History Month
there’s a little run around the
historic Sweet Auburn neighbor
hood, so it’s like a Black History
Month tour. Through Women in
Hip-Hop Collective, communi
ty service is a big component,
so right now we go to Kipp Col
legiate Academy High School
and we mentor students in their
sound production class.
“Recently I just threw a confer
ence at Spelman for women in
film and technology, and we invit
ed a lot of high school students
to open their eyes between the
two.”
After working with the president
of Spelman College, the D.C.
Jazz Festival, Twelve Studios, and
Zaytoven, Eboni plans to take her
skills to work with Universal Stu
dios.
The love that Janna Perry had
for her school encouraged her to
make the institution better than
what it was and give people a
sense of belonging by running for
Ms. Spelman with her platform
being L.A.W. (Loving, Affirming,
Winning) to “put some positive
energy and some light” into her
Spelman sisters and Morehouse
Brothers. Along that journey, she
was met with diversity, but there
is only way that she could de
scribe the year she’s had trying to
fulfill that dream.
"If I could describe my
year in one word, I would say it
was a testimony," Janna said. "I
would call it a testimony because
I definitely went through a lot of
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WOMEN OF THE YEAR