Impact Fellow Interview: Naila Ahsan

An interview with Naila Ahsan, a third-year Impact Fellow raised in Bangladesh studying business management at George Mason University's School of Business.

What interested you in a management degree from Mason?

I am the seventh member of my family to attend George Mason. One key reason is that Mason offered me the Mason Freedom Scholarship because they liked my extracurricular activities from high school and constant high GPA, which was a big motivating factor for me to study here.  Ever since ninth grade, I always wanted to get into the corporate world, something about it, I don’t know, maybe it was this motivational speech by one of the leading entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. They were giving this speech, and I was like, I really want to do this, I really want to be this person, to follow in their shadow and their footsteps. Also, my dad is an entrepreneur, so that really motivated me. I’ve been helping him out for a while and I just thought this is what I wanted to do. So I’m going for a Management degree with a minor in Entrepreneurship in Mason’s business program with a goal of becoming a social entrepreneur.

Tell us about why you applied for the Impact Fellows and what have you taken away from it so far?

I wasn’t really sure what the Impact Fellows was because I was doing classes from thousands of miles away. My freshman year was completely remote and I had to do classes at 3 AM in the morning in Bangladesh…so I felt this need to be more connected with my campus as much as I can from Bangladesh. So that’s when I decided that, ‘okay, whatever opportunity comes to me I’m going to take it.’ So I saw this message about it that came through my email, and I thought, that’s a really good opportunity for me because I’ve worked in the nonprofit sector having started a foundation in Bangladesh that promotes menstrual hygiene help, and ultimately I want my future or my career to build on a nonprofit pathway. So I was in need to continue with this. I know that I had to get linked to an organization that also has similar views, so that’s when I decided to apply for the Impact Fellows since it also has a lot to do with what I was really passionate about. I shared my work with the Business for a Better World Center and they were so supportive of everything I was doing. As for the takeaways from this program, it has changed my life. Every time I tell my family they comment on it being such a great opportunity for me to bridge off. I’ve gotten to learn a lot but also apply it to real life. For example, we’re starting our own club at Mason called Be the Change.

What are your best experiences in the program and what would you tell prospective students?

I think the best experiences are that I have made some amazing friends that I know are going to be there in my life. Together we’ve created this club we founded and we’re actively working together. I feel like the people I have met and the team building experiences and networking opportunities have been amazing. Last year we went to this team building program that was really empowering because the entire course and field trip we collaborated together as partners and created this understanding between us that’s going to last forever I think. You will meet amazing people and you’ll get the best mentorship. I got partnered with the best mentor from Gartner recently by our cohort leader Dr. King. Like it’s been a few weeks that we started the mentorship program and my mentor has helped me so much. This is like a service that I would have to pay for or look for anywhere else, but with this program, I got connected to all these resources anyways.

Can you share more information about the club you and the others started and how the Impact Fellows helped you to do so?

Okay, so we’re called Be the Change. We just started about 2 weeks ago and now that we got our confirmation we have a lot of things planned. We want to help the underprivileged people, not just limited to our community, but if we have the resources we’re definitely going to help others too. It’s going to be our hands-on approach and experience. We’ve been learning a lot in our classes and this is our fourth semester that we’ve taken. These classes we’ve taken with the Impact Fellows program, I guess we feel like we’ve learned quite a bit and now it’s time that we apply it all into the practical world. We also want to help the other cohorts and the ones that come after us. We want to be inclusive of them as well. That’s how it works. We’ve learned a lot of in-depth skills and now we can apply it in real life. As a starter, right now we’re trying to provide clothes. We are partnering with an organization called Women Giving Back that supports women that have been abused or assaulted. Vulnerable women in society or people that don't really have shelter, food, or clothing. We’re going to have donation boxes set up on campus, as well as collecting donations to get some essential clothing items from the store. We’re looking at upcycling some things as well. We have a potential list of partners who will be helping with this and have heard back from some of them.

Expanding upon that a little, are there any other activities or programs you are participating in right now or have done already?

I have been running a charity called Relive Foundation in Bangladesh that focuses on menstrual health. It is still a stigma there and in many other countries menstruation is seen differently, as unclean, and so unfortunately sanitary products are typically luxuries when it should be a necessity. In Bangladesh only 14% of women have access to a sanitary napkin, which is crazy and breaks my heart, so I wanted to do something about it. We are currently providing 40 girls with yearly sanitary napkins and I definitely want to bring this number up, because honestly, I feel like this was a helpful drive and those girls reached out to me saying that this changed their life because now everything is accessible. ‘I don’t have to miss school for my period. I don’t have to miss work for my period.’ Because they didn’t have a choice before. They used old clothes and dirty rags and it made their cycles really difficult for them. I tried to use whatever they used, and I only lasted an hour. Like, no. They’re not even able to clean those clothes they’re using and wash it properly and then dry it in the sunlight because there’s a stigma of being out in public. People are not that much aware of the issues behind this. If I’m not staying hygienic during that time of the month, there are consequences. Bad ones. There are so many infections and diseases that could happen. We have limited funds and resources, but we try to raise awareness. We go to the schools. We go to the orphanages and communities to just raise awareness telling them, ‘Try to keep yourself clean. Try to change what you’re using every 3 or 4 hours. Dry whatever you’re using in direct sunlight.’ Stuff like that. We’ve asked for sponsorships here and there. But I think what might work, that we’re thinking about doing on Mason campus with Be the Change, is to have one person here in the U.S. supporting one in need of sanitary products there in Bangladesh. I’m still doing the research right now, but it’s something I want to definitely do in the future.

Expanding upon that a little, what areas of interest and research do you have that you would like to intersect with business management?

As I mentioned earlier, I want to be a social entrepreneur when I move into my career. Much of it will be built upon the triple bottom line approach, because I want to give back to the community. So much of it will be connected to this. So maybe in the future, I can work with companies that manufacture sanitary products that are reusable, but not sustainable. That’s the thing I want to think about in that sector a little bit and do something about it. I’ll probably start in the corporate world, understand the dynamics and mechanisms of it and then plan on moving into social entrepreneurship, focusing on feminine hygiene taboos and products and making them more sustainable. There’s a lot of waste in this area and I want to make things more sustainable.

Finally, it seems like you have some great projects and activities that you are involved in. Are you doing anything else?

Well, besides Be the Change and my menstruation charity Relive Foundation, I also work with Mason Miracle for the National Children’s Hospital as their fundraising chair. It’s a really great opportunity because it’s widespread everywhere there are health issues in America. I’ve been able to live a bit of the pain these families go through and then see how much the fundraising helps alleviate some of the worry. Every penny goes to them. I’m also serving as the Treasurer for Mason’s Bengali Patriot’s Association on campus, as well as the DEI chair (diversity equity and inclusion) for my sorority Chi Omega. We work with the Make a Wish Foundation. I was also working as an intern for one of the biggest charity organizations in Bangladesh, Awareness 360, whose co-founder was recognized as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30. Well, now after receiving the best intern award there I was just hired as a staff member in the resource management team overseeing the internship program. I know I’m doing a lot, but I wasn’t able to have all of these opportunities in high school and I didn’t want to give up on doing what I could. The Impact Fellows Program is the platform that pushes me to do better, inspires me to do better. I would never have thought of the summer campaign I want to start if it wasn’t for this program.