Asia Matthews is a junior that proudly hails from Jamaica, Queens. As a first-year Asia was involved with research on the Princeton & Slavery Project and is deeply interested in how the legacy of slavery shapes the U.S., the Middle East, Africa, and South America today. To pursue these academic interests she is pursuing the Global Race & Ethnicity track within the African American Studies Department.

Asia is passionate about bringing marginalized voices to the fore. To do this she serves as a Fellow at the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding, and the former production manager of the Stripes, a student publication that highlights undervalued narratives. In addition, Asia is devoted to marshaling data science and statistics for social justice. As such she is seeking a certificate in Statistics and Machine Learning as well as Latin American Studies.

Asia hopes to follow in the steps of her life inspirations, Michelle Obama and Sonia Sotomayor, and attend law school, in addition to beauty school because she is the founder of a beauty salon on campus. She enjoys ice skating, collecting artwork, and African drumming. Most importantly, Asia is humbled and honored to be part of the first all-Black graduating class in any department in Princeton's history.