Healing Through Education: Meet Alumna Khurshida Begum

"South Puget Sound Community College really allowed me to inspire other folks and it happened authentically," said Khurshida Begum. "When academic meets lived experiences, it’s a game-changer. I learned my confidence and I learned to pursue what I wanted to do."

A graduate of SPSCC’s class of 2012 and former ASB President, Khurshida is now the founder and owner of ASHHO Cultural Community Center. Located in Tumwater, ASHHO is a space designed to ensure that everyone feels valued, welcome, and like they truly belong. The center focuses on feeding, healing, educating, and celebrating the community, a mission deeply rooted in Khurshida’s own journey of resilience and self-discovery.

Khurshida’s path to SPSCC was not a straightforward one. She had built a successful corporate career, meeting with CEOs and working in marketing, but she carried a deep, unspoken shame about her educational background. The turning point came during a dinner conversation with her 9-year-old son.

"I told him ‘you have to read, you have to write, you have to go to college,’" she recalled. "He asked me one day, ‘Mom, where did you go to college? Where did you graduate from?’ The shame sat in my heart. What if he found out I had a GED?"

For a week, she avoided the question. But as she reflected, she realized she couldn’t ask her son to pursue higher education if she hadn’t experienced it herself. A week later, she walked into SPSCC, determined to enroll.

"I told my son the truth…I didn’t have the same opportunities he did; however, I’m enrolled at SPSCC and I’m going to get my education," she shared. "So, he could watch me, and then I’d watch him."

Despite her corporate experience, Khurshida faced a reality check when she took SPSCC’s placement test and was placed one level above Adult Basic Education. "It was a huge hit to me," she admitted.

Over the next year, she dedicated herself to improving her reading and writing skills. English professor Polly Birky played a crucial role in her journey, encouraging her to put her story on paper.

"She worked with me, motivated me, told me to just write. Write your story," Khurshida said. "I started to get all these shameful stories that I held and the narratives in my head out through this writing class. That was so transformative for me. That’s when I started my healing journey of coming to terms with my lived experiences as a human trafficking survivor, a single mom, all these different things I got to write about."

SPSCC also helped her discover a passion for public speaking. In a communications class with Professor Nicholas Owen, she learned the skills that would propel her career forward. "When I got my first big keynote, I shared that with him," she laughed.

SPSCC not only shaped her personal transformation but also supported the creation of ASHHO Cultural Community Center. During the pandemic, SPSCC closed its downtown Olympia catering space and gifted Khurshida brand-new equipment, chafing dishes, bowls, and all the essentials to launch her catering business.

"I’ll never forget that kindness," she said. "It was an incredible gift that helped me get ASHHO off the ground."

ASHHO, meaning “come join” in Bengali, was a vision 20 years in the making. Co-led with her husband, the community center was born out of Khurshida’s firsthand experiences with marginalization, poverty, and systemic barriers.

"I know what it feels like to be ‘the otherness’. To be a dark-skinned person, to be a person with language barriers, to be a person who has witnessed whole communities struggling," she said. "There’s not a lot of places for us to belong and be our authentic selves unapologetically. That’s where this dream came from."

The center operates as both a revenue-generating catering and events space and a nonprofit dedicated to feeding the hungry, providing job training, and fostering healing through community support. Spaces like the Brave Room, the Survivor Room, and the Freedom Room reflect its core values: resilience, empowerment, and collective liberation.

Today, Khurshida has traveled to 36 states and six countries, speaking to audiences ranging from 10 to over 1,000 people. She continues to advocate for survivors, for education, and for the power of community. She’s excited to launch the center’s first Culinary Hospitality Job Training Program and continue to strengthen the connection between ASHHO and SPSCC.

"I know SPSCC will take care of the students we refer," she said. "There’s trust there, built from years of supporting each other."

Reflecting on her journey, Khurshida emphasizes the profound impact of education and community support in transforming lives.

"What I learned at SPSCC was life-changing and transformative. When I go back now, it’s like my home."