Ayesha K. Mustafaa is a graduate of Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Penn., where she earned a BA Degree/Double Major in Psychology and Political Science, and a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia College-Chicago.

In 1974, she converted to Al-Islam, coming from a Mississippi family of Civil Rights activists of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. era. She joined the community of Muslims affiliated with Imam W. Deen Mohammed in late 1974. She was named Muslim Journal editor in 1989. She also worked in Prison Dawah/Islamic teachings to incarcerated populations.

            Ayesha also traveled as part of delegations led by Imam Mohammed, several to Saudi Arabia, to Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories of Gaza and West Bank – most notable was the meeting between Imam Mohammed and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

She made Hajj in 1977 with the then largest Muslim group from the U.S.A. led by Imam Mohammed and has made Umrah several times. She was a presenter at the 3-day International Media Conference, hosted by the interfaith based Focolare Movement’s NetOne Media Group held in Rome, Italy, in 2004, with 800 participants from over 20 countries.

Moving to Jackson, Mississippi, in 2015, she joined the faculty of the HBCU, Tougaloo College, in its Mass Communications Department as instructor teaching courses like Investigative Reporting and “The Race Beat.” In 2020, she joined the International Museum of Muslim Cultures (IMMC) board of directors in Jackson and became member of the advisory board of the online news platform Mississippi Free Press.

In December 2022, she joined the African Diaspora Connect delegation of 47 people, traveling to Senegal, West Africa, organized by Special Envoy for Sierra Leone, Ambassador Waleed Shamsid-deen.

The U.S. Council of Muslim Organization (USCMO) honored Ayesha among its 2022 “National Muslim Woman Achievement” Awardees. A street in New Medinah, Miss., was named in her honor in 2011. She was named the Muslim Woman of the Year 1994 by the Community of Imam W. Deen Mohammed.