Aaliyah Boston has accomplished incredible things in her life however her proudest achievement goes back to a life-changing decision that she had to make where she draws inspiration Aaliyah has a deeper reason behind her work ethic everyone needs someone or something to help Inspire them for Aaliyah her inspiration comes from the strong women in her life women's History Month it means a lot to her it's a time for reflection and giving flowers to those who have helped shape her and her mom is at the top of the list my mom my family those who have helped me grow up to be the woman I am is really important because I feel like being a woman in society can be hard now her mom has helped her with her priorities it's so easy to get distracted and fall for things that don't matter or compare yourself to others which can result in negative thinking Aaliyah was able to overcome these obstacles and stay on the right path thanks to her mom her mom played a big role because from a young age she allowed Aaliyah and her sister to be able to dream big and understand that anything we want with God's help can be accomplished another inspirational figure in her life was her aunt her aunt made a huge Sacrifice by allowing Aaliyah and her sister to move in with her when they were 12 and 14 years old so that they could be exposed to a higher level of basketball competition now this taught her the valuable lesson of sacrifice which is extremely important in a team game like basketball sometimes what is best for your individual game might not be the best for the team you have to be able to look beyond your own interest and do what is best for everyone as a collective however before she learned this valuable lesson Aaliyah had to face one of the hardest decisions of her life basketball Obsession in order to pursue her dream she had to change everything Aaliyah was born on the island of St Thomas in the US Virgin Island where her father taught her and her older sister how to play basketball at outdoor courts on the weekend just 3 years after she discovered an intense love for the game she had to make an extremely tough decision stay home with her parents or chase after her dream in the end Aaliyah and her sister moved away from their parents in St Thomas to live with an aunt in massachusett the sacrifice would not be for nothing however if it wasn't for basketball she could have also gone pro in a different sport before Aaliyah made that life-changing move to Massachusetts she was an avid tennis player and it continues to be her favorite sport outside of basketball she played for the Worster Academy in high school where she was named Massachusetts girls basketball player of the year for three straight years and led her team to a 241 record and a championship her senior year however her next step in her basketball Journey would come with some serious mental demons basketball Journey Aaliyah had to dig deep to find success in college she was part of a freshman class that was the top recruiting class in the country country that year the quintet nicknamed the Freshies lived up to the hype in South Carolina where they managed the unusual feat of staying together for all four seasons during Aaliyah's tenure the team won three SEC regular season and SEC tournament championships appeared in two final fours won a national championship and racked up an overall record of 127 and8 in her four years as a Gamecock Aaliyah has garnered 12 career records including most triple doubles most double doubles in SEC games and second most career double doubles block shots and rebounds her list of First Place season records is even longer with many coming during her Championship 2021 2022 season including 462 rebounds 30 double doubles and 37 games started however it wasn't all smooth sailing during her junior year she almost quit the game that she loves we came back in our next few practices heading into March Madness it was not great we couldn't do anything right she was like no no no I'm sitting there thinking is this really what I want to do it's because one I hate losing and then Coach Staley was pushing us to go to another level because she knew that we could be there she even called the director of Player Development and told him that she didn't think basketball was for her anymore however it wasn't because she didn't love the game instead she put a ton of pressure on herself to win and when she failed it was Soul crushing for her but Ayah also did plenty of winning during that time she found success playing for USA Basketball winning five gold medals with Team USA from 2017 to 2021 she has previously participated in a training camp for the USA Women's National Team and is expected to play on that roster after turning pro and speaking of Pros she did something truly remarkable after entering the WNBA WNBA career her unique superstitions might be the or greatness considered one of the weakest teams in the WNBA for the past several years Indiana has not put together a winning regular season since 10 time WNBA Allstar Tama Catchings was the face of the franchise in the six year since their legendary forwards retirement the fever have a poultry 45 to 147 record but even despite their onc Court woes the fever never earned the top overall pick in fact not once in the franchises entire 22-year existence had the team selected first in the draft but this all changed when they picked first in the 2023 draft and no one was surprised when Indiana picked Aaliyah right away Aaliyah exuded a quiet confidence as the face of the game coock leading them to a 1299 record during her 4-year career even still she admitted to having some superstitions as she plan to continue into the pros now maybe it was these superstitions that helped her win the w NBA Rookie of the month and be named a starter for the 2023 WNBA All-Star Game becoming just the eighth rookie in the league history to start the game then at the end of the 2023 season Aaliyah was unanimously named WNBA rookie of the year then the following year she would take her game to the next level thanks to her new Superstar teammate Caitlyn Clark and make another All-Star Game appearance she also partnered with some of the biggest brands in the world WNBA contract her deals are one of a kind Aaliyah is currently on a 3-year $233,000 deal with the Indiana Fever and 2022 she signed an endorsement deal with under arour with a stated combined commitment to grow the sport of women's basketball by increasing access to the game for youth athletes one of Boston's first initiatives with the brand was to host a first ofit kind UA next women's basketball camp in her home country of St Thomas last June the dayl Long Camp hosted 50 middle school and high school basketball players for a training session with her and college coaches as part of the nil deal fans can also now buy a replica UA Jersey just like the one that Boston sported for South Carolina she also has endorsement deals with afflac American Express and Adidas she is also an ambassador for St Thomas but growing up she never imagined herself being a baller off the court a valuable life lesson put everything into perspective for her growing up Aaliyah was convinced that she was going to be a lawyer but once she learned she had to go to law school it made her rethink her original plan she changed her mind and focused on becoming a therapist but once again when she found out how many years she would be in school she quickly put that dream aside however one passion that she has not let go of is becoming a broadcaster that's something that she strongly considers to this day and plans on giving it a shot after she retires but that will be a long while from now however if she had listened to others none of her dreams would have come true now having accomplished so much in her life already her proudest achievement was the fact that she was willing to follow her dream and leave her comfortable life behind and move to America if she didn't have the guts to do so her life would be completely different right now