Kharley Redmon“Women of Ole Miss” is a four-part interview series documenting the voices of women attending the University of Mississippi. Each part focuses on a different student, exploring their unique life experiences and accomplishments and what it means to them to be a woman.
Kanazsha Cooper’s biggest role model growing up was her grandmother, Cynthia Profit.
Whether working as a beautician, certified nursing assistant or selling insurance, she did everything she could to provide for her family and care for those around her, according to Cooper.
When Profit was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the roles reversed, and Cooper and her family had to become caretakers to Profit.
Profit passed away in September 2019, but her passion for spreading love and helping people is evident in her granddaughter. Cooper, now a senior at the University of Mississippi, carries on Profit’s legacy in everything she does.
Profit’s influence is perhaps most evident in Cooper’s career choice. Cooper is a biology major with plans to become a physician.
“I love helping people, and I feel like the most hands-on way you can do that is to be a physician,” Cooper said.
While being a physician was always Cooper’s goal, during her sophomore year Cooper had to go from hospital to hospital with her grandmother, and spent much of that time interacting with physicians. Cooper noticed that many physicians weren’t trained in having realistic yet comforting conversations about death.
“In the medical field, you’re not trained to tell someone that they’re going to die,” Cooper said. “I want to become a physician so I can be comforting to my patients and let them know that end of life does not mean that it ends in this room here today.”
Cooper originally wanted to have an oncology focus in her career. After shadowing Dr. Neeka Sanders, an OBGYN at the Tupelo Women’s Hospital, she is exploring going into the field of women’s health.
“Black women statistically have a higher mortality rate when it comes to childbearing births,” Cooper said. “It’s hurtful to hear as a black woman that my chances to die while I’m giving life into this world are extremely high. Seeing her (Dr. Sanders) in her position and the way she cares for every one of the ladies that she takes care of, it’s like you know when you’re giving birth that you have someone who cares about you and who wants to see you make it to the other end.”
Cooper plans on a future full of service, but her roles here at the university have allowed her to help countless people over the past four years.
“My grandmother wouldn’t want me to be sad. She raised a strong, beautiful black woman,” Cooper said. “That ignited a fire in me to give that to someone else. So what I did was I became a mentor for the biology department.”
As a mentor for the biology department, Cooper works one on one with students enrolled in Biology 161 and Biology 162.
“Our job is to make sure that they have some support going through that, whether that is advice on advising, advice on how to get through a test or just me planning activities to make sure that they understand what’s going on in class,” Cooper said. “And some days, it’s more than just academics. Sometimes I’m a confidant, I’m a comforter and everything all in one.”
In addition to being a mentor for the biology department, Cooper is also a mentor for the Mississippi Bridge STEM Program and the Increasing Minority Access to Graduate Education (IMAGE) program.
The Bridge STEM program is a summer session program that helps incoming first-year minority students get a head start on their degrees and transition to college. While the Bridge STEM Program helps with the beginning of college, the IMAGE program helps minority students transition to graduate school, offering support in seeking graduate school opportunities.
Cooper’s current service also extends beyond the world of biology and medicine.
Cooper is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University as the first Divine Nine sorority and currently has 1,026 chapters with nearly 300,000 total members.
“We promote sisterhood, education and humanities,” Cooper said. “What it means to me is that I am a strong black woman, and I want to help my community, whether it’s local or global. That is what we do.”
Cooper is currently on the community service committee for Alpha Kappa Alpha. Some of Cooper’s favorite service projects through her sorority include the Soles4Souls shoe collection and Lions Club International eyeglass collection. In addition to this, Cooper also noted that Alpha Kappa Alpha pays special attention to promoting women’s health and helping people build an economic legacy.
“We held a fashion show to promote women’s health,” Cooper said. “We also try to promote economic legacy. We have different seminars and events that focus on being financially literate.”
Cooper used her participation in Alpha Kappa Alpha to run for and serve as one of the National Pan-Hellenic Council senators on the Associated Student Body for the 2021-2022 school year.
This year Cooper is a member of the infrastructure committee, which focuses on improving the physical components of campus. Cooper’s main project this year was making Dormitory Row West, the one-way street by Rebel Market, safer for pedestrians.
“On visitation days, people come in the wrong direction, and there’s a lot of students trying to get to Rebel Market,” Cooper said. “It’s dangerous.”
Cooper also said that people working in the area were afraid of unexpected cars taking them by surprise and causing an accident. After talking to her chair and campus higher-ups, Cooper was able to get clearer one-way signs on Dormitory Row West.
Although Cooper’s focus was on the infrastructure committee this year, her reasons for running go beyond wanting to make the campus physically better. Cooper’s motivations tie back to her desire in everything she does to be a caretaker, helping hand and voice for the communities she holds close to her heart.
“I wanted to represent the biology department, and I wanted to represent the African American community,” Cooper said. “In the senate, we’re the minority, and it’s important that I’m able to use my voice to speak for someone who may not have that voice. I get to represent my community and I hope every day that I step into that room that I’m representing them well and to the fullest of my abilities.”
Ellis Ross will be featured as next week’s Woman of Ole Miss.
