Kimia “Mia” Ahmady is a senior majoring in Electrical Engineering and minoring in Nutrition. She is Persian and was born in Canada. She is the 2021 president of USC’s chapter of Alpha Delta Pi (ADPI). On campus, she is the director of finance for Lava Lab, as well a graphic designer for Trojan ‘SC. She is also an editor for Illumin - the magazine for Viterbi School of Engineering. She decided to run for ADPI President because : “As a woman of color seeing campaigns like abolish Greek life, I felt a personal tie to the stories that people shared in our community. I wanted to change not only how ADPI is run, but Panhellenic as a whole. I value differing opinions and bring a unique perspective to many policies. Ignorance and lack of understanding does go away; it changes with conversations and actionable items. I felt like it was better to start changing our community then idly stand by.”
She describes her primary responsibilities as being largely behind the scenes work and making sure that she is able to oversee every sector of the chapter, as well as stay in constant communication with her executive board and the chapter’s advisors. “Making sure that everyone stays on task and helping anyone that needs it is my primary goal. When I need to make decisions in the interest of the chapter, I host round tables to make sure I am thoroughly representing the chapter. Being as transparent as I can be with the chapter is important to me, making sure that everyone knows how decisions are made and why they are made.” She describes being the leader of such a large group of women as “fun, it can definitely be stressful at times, but I know am making legitimate change. I am learning and growing in this position every day, and the chapter is working together to guide each other through life. “
The legacy she wants to leave at Alpha Delta Pi is “Inclusivity - that is something that I genuinely strive to do. I want to keep pushing these initiatives that ADPi has set forward. That is something that I will pass on to the next president - making sure they are speaking up in meetings and having the chapter’s voice heard. I want to leave a lasting impact of genuine change, and have everyone be inspired to fight for what they believe in, both ADPI leadership and other members.”
Some fun facts about Mia are that she didn’t learn to swim until last year she loves to hammock and read books. Her advice to those thinking of going through recruitment is “When I went through the recruitment process as a person of color, I felt very overwhelmed like I was not meeting a certain societal standard. Be yourself, use your own personality, dress how you want. Do not compare yourself or to others potential new members. Go into having fun conversations, and you will have a better mindset about it.” Additionally, her advice to future Trojan is: ““Never miss an opportunity to have fun. School will always be there. You can always get that GPA up, but you will never relive that football game or Springfest. This is the time to do that. Make sure that you are balancing out your life.”
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