ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: YASMEEN WATSON
Yasmeen Watson’s skill set is impressive. After her early education at Russell Byers Charter School, where she was an excellent student and especially enjoyed Chess Club, she attended Masterman for one year and then switched to the Agnes Irwin School in Bryn Mawr, PA. She says she enjoyed attending an all-girls school where it was “cool” to be smart and have opinions and where there were few distractions from making the most of her educational opportunities. Yasmeen’s motivation to thrive earned her great grades and a view towards a college career. After considering an array of options, Yasmeen ultimately elected to attend Temple University, graduating with a degree in Business Administration with focuses on risk management, insurance, and accounting.
After graduation from Temple, Yasmeen put her degree to work, quickly identifying and securing a position with PwC (formerly known as Pricewaterhouse Coopers). There, she performed start-to-finish client engagements, including planning audits, performing audit procedures, and creating reports. While she credits PwC with refining her work skills, she knew that she was looking for a more dynamic and diverse environment to make the next step in her career.
During the pandemic, Yasmeen’s passion for cycling emerged. She rode every day and was even profiled on usacyclying.org as part of the #LeadHerForward campaign, featuring stories of girls and women in cycling. Being one of few Black Muslim women involved in the sport, Yasmeen soon found herself being recruited by the Trek Bicycling Corporation as they looked to engage more people of color. She agreed to take on the role of Ambassador and now travels the country, participating in races and events and working to build equity and inclusion in cycling. As a Trek Ambassador, she also has plans to develop more biking opportunities for women and children, such as “Mommy and Me”-style rides and other family programs.
In addition, Yasmeen has launched a residential habilitation agency which was recently qualified to serve adults with intellectual disabilities. Everyday Lives focuses on companion care, in-home and community supports, respite care, residential rehabilitation, advocacy, and other supports with an integrated, family-based approach that considers each individual’s unique needs.
In sharing how she approaches all of the exciting work and projects she takes on, Yasmeen says, “I am always looking for a void that needs to be filled.” We believe she is already making an impact and are inspired by the ways she fulfills her ideas and goals. What a thrill to see what else she will accomplish with her many talents!