May 18, 2021
Faces of PC: Taiwo Adefiyiju-Monwuba ’14 returns to Friartown
By Liz F. Kay
Though her job titles have changed several times since Taiwo Adefiyiju-Monwuba ’14 returned to Providence College, her goal has never wavered — to help fellow Friars tell their stories and to feel like they belong.
Enrolling at PC represented a big change for Adefiyiju-Monwuba. The Providence native had always attended school with her twin brother through twelfth grade at Mount Pleasant High School, until they went to different colleges in Rhode Island. “First semester was a challenge, but it all worked out, and we’re even closer now,” she said.
Adefiyiju-Monwuba majored in health policy and management and took on leadership roles in student organizations such as the Board of Multicultural Student Affairs, Afro-American Society, and the Step Up Mentoring Program, and served as a resident assistant. That experience helped her realize her true ambition.
“There was a moment where I was like, ‘I want to work with students, but I don’t know what that means,” she said. After long talks with Dr. Wanda Ingram ’75, senior associate dean of undergraduate studies; Karen Vargas, then associate dean of admission; and Dr. Steven Sears, now vice president for student affairs and dean of students, she chose Loyola University Chicago for her master’s degree in higher education administration.
Days before commencement, however, her family’s house caught fire. Thankfully, no one was injured — Adefiyiju-Monwuba and her mother were at the hair salon getting ready for the MLK Scholarship dinner — but their home was destroyed. Her family scrambled to buy new clothes and to continue to celebrate her at Commencement that weekend. “That was a very vulnerable moment for all of us,” she said.
Adefiyiju-Monwuba thought she should stay in Rhode Island, but her PC support network convinced her not to let this tragedy derail her graduate school plans. Ultimately she went, and new mentors convinced her it was the right decision.
It was while hunting for post-graduate school jobs that Adefiyiju-Monwuba learned about student activism on PC’s campus, including a sit-in in the office of then-president Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. ’80, and knew she wanted to return.
“Providence College was not the place I expected to land,” she said.
However, when presented with an opportunity to go back, “I wanted to change that experience for students of color … I don’t want them to feel so defeated, undermined, not supported, not having a sense of belonging,” she said.
In her first role, as the adviser for the Board of Multicultural Student Affairs in the Office of Student Activities and Cultural Programming, Adefiyiju-Monwuba found herself serving as an unofficial career coach as well.
For instance, members of BMSA would tell her they wanted jobs like hers after graduating. “No, I want you to do better than I’m doing,” she said.
“I would fail myself if you wanted to be exactly like me,” Adefiyiju-Monwuba said. “I told them what is it about my role that you like? What is it about your passion that you want to learn a little bit more about?”
She transitioned to a role as a career coach in the Center for Career Education and Professional Development, helping liberal arts and science majors have conversations about their identities and how that impacts their ambitions. “I was learning a lot about how to best support BIPOC students who are in the sciences, telling them about other avenues, letting them know how to connect with different career paths.”
“I found that in my coaching appointments, I never, never started with ‘Let me see your resume,’ ” she said, instead asking about their days, their concerns, whether they had enough sleep and food, before discussing where they wanted to go when they leave PC. “From those interactions, you truly learn where their passions are coming from,” she said.
Then Adefiyiju-Monwuba, whose family is Nigerian, began assisting students with mental health concerns who had grown up in cultures in which prayer is considered the only solution — not therapy or anything else — and helping them understand the value of counseling. “We are the generation that can make that change,” she said. “You can’t help other people if you don’t help yourself first.”
Two years later, when she joined the Office of the Dean of Students as an assistant dean and director of cultural education, Adefiyiju-Monwuba got the chance to pursue all her passions — working with student organizations, coaching, and supporting students’ mental health needs.
Adefiyiju-Monwuba finds strength in her religious practice. She was raised Catholic but while in Chicago, attended a Pentecostal church where she met her husband. Though they are both Nigerian-American, their families are from two different ethnic groups that have had conflicts in the past — Yoruba for her, and Igbo for him. “Talk about the clash of cultures,” she said.
“What really attracted to me to him was his faith,” Adefiyiju-Monwuba said. “Faith is so rooted in my everyday life.” Their daughter, Isabella, turns two in July. One of her first words was “Amen.”
That’s not the only major life change. Adefiyiju-Monwuba started classes for a doctorate in education leadership at Johnson & Wales University in the fall of 2020. Her husband works remotely and her parents and twin brother help with childcare so she can take classes on Friday evenings and weekends.
It’s difficult, but Adefiyiju-Monwuba feels this commitment now means she will be more available to her child when she’s older. “I tell myself, ‘yes, I want to be a part of her growth,’” she said. “Let me get this out of the way now, so I can be there for her journey as she matures into a beautiful princess.’”
Her dissertation focuses on helping students of color create a sense of belonging at predominantly white institutions, as well as storytelling.
“If you heard my story, you would see where my passion, where my strength, comes from. It was because of that fire, my family, and most of all, my faith,” she said.
