Amoje Moody
Amoje Moody mentored fellow students, organized events, and hosted his own radio show as a Murrow College communication student.
He felt welcomed before he enrolled.
A visit to the WSU Pullman campus during his high school days “solidified that this was the place I wanted to be,” says Amoje Moody, who graduated in 2019.
After settling into Pullman life, he worked to help other students, particularly those who, like him, are first in their families to go to college, to feel at home here, too.
Moody spent his senior year serving as a peer mentor through the African American Student Center in WSU’s Office of Multicultural Student Services. He also served as a director of Up All Night programming for the Student Entertainment Board in the Office of Student Involvement, organizing events to bring students together.
And, through the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication he learned how to get his message out. Moody studied strategic communication with an emphasis in public relations and risk and crisis communication.
Radio is his jam.
“I’ve always wanted to do radio,” he says. “My main passion is music.” He likes music, he says, for what he calls “its natural healing properties. I listen to music a lot.”
Sophomore year, he hosted a show called “For the Culture” on WSU’s online student radio station, winning KUGR awards for best content, best voice, and best overall show.
Junior and senior years, he created and produced his own program, dubbed Big Mood Radio, on his personal website.
“Launching that myself is one of the things I’m most proud of,” he says. “Murrow gave me the tools necessary. I developed my own skill from there.”
This is his advice to incoming college students: “Take your passions beyond the classroom. Don’t worry about what anyone thinks.”
Born and raised in Tacoma, Moody was brought up by his mother and grandmother, neither of whom completed college. For Moody, however, going to college wasn’t a question.
“I was always determined to go to college,” he says. “My mom and my grandma always encouraged me to go to college. I just decided early on I was going to do it.”
He applied to four or five universities. And, he says, “I got accepted to all of them. But WSU was ultimately where I wanted to be.”
He was attracted to Murrow “because the program was so renowned, so respected. I knew I could get a good education.”
Scholarships and financial aid helped. Moody was a Palmer Scholar.
Now, he serves as a professional mentor with Tacoma’s Friends of the Children, an organization that aims to break the cycle of generational poverty by mentoring at-risk youth.
One day, he hopes to maybe land a job as a social media or digital content creator. And, someday, he plans to own his own media business.
“I want to have my own independence,” he says. “My No. 1 purpose through college and through life is just maintaining my authenticity. I want to be able to edify and influence others to live their purpose. I want to help people find their way.”
By Adriana Janovich