Ayesha Mustafaa

Ayesha Mustafaa is the editor of the Muslim Journal newspaper, a publication with roots tracing back to Malcolm X's Muhammad Speaks, a role she has held since January 1989. She also teaches newsprint journalism in the mass communications department at Tougaloo College, a position she has maintained for the past decade after relocating to Jackson, Mississippi. Mustafaa earned a BA with a double major in psychology and political science before obtaining her master's degree in newsprint journalism from Columbia College Chicago in 1996. Her professional affiliations include membership in the National Association of Black Journalists and service on the board of the International Museum of Muslim Cultures in Jackson. She has received a proclamation from Mayor Roz Baraka of Newark and was named Muslim Woman of the Year. Mustafaa attributes her success to the example set by her mother, a Mississippi schoolteacher for over 40 years who raised eight children and put six through college on a teacher's salary.