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Emmanuel College’s Jamad Fiin ’21 G’22 was the subject of an August 17 New York Times "Short Stories on Sports and Fame" feature titled, “She’s an Influencer. But What Will She do With Her Influence?”
The story documents her rise to prominence as a sports influencer, which began with a 2017 Instagram clip of Fiin playing basketball in a hijab, and has taken her to more than one million followers on the platform—from the Somali and Muslim communities all over the world to celebrities such as Drake.
As Fiin completes her M.B.A. through Emmanuel’s Graduate & Professional Programs, she is also hosting basketball events for Somali and Muslim girls through her new nonprofit, Jamad Basketball Camps—and wondering what will be her next move, both in the sport and as a role model for other young girls.
Excerpt:
“Fiin’s first brush with it came five years ago, on her 17th birthday, when her cousin uploaded a clip of her playing basketball. In it, Fiin, who is Somali American and wears a hijab in observance of her Muslim faith, finishes a silky left-handed drive through a crowd of boys.
For her, it was a routine play. To the wider world, it was, apparently, something remarkable, a four-second subversion of some narrowly conceived image of how a girl wearing a head covering should behave. The next morning, she watched, amazed, as the view count on the video exploded, eventually rising into the millions.
The flame was lit, and periodically, at her own deliberate pace, she would update her account with more photos and videos, all while juggling classes and playing basketball at Emmanuel College in Boston, a Division III program.”