A Quiet Fire
Massachusetts' top advocate for women leads by example
Editor's Note: This story also appears in the Fall 2024 issue of the HCC college magazine, The Connection.
By DOUG SCANLON
Shaitia Spruell ’14 has always defied expectations.
She was the youngest stage manager in her high school’s theater department. She was the youngest board chair for the Springfield chapter of Neighbor to Neighbor, a nonprofit social service agency. And in 2022, at 28 years old, she became the youngest-ever executive director of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.
“I still struggle with imposter syndrome all the time,” said Spruell, now 31. “But I have to remind myself: I paid my dues.”
The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, MCSW for short, reviews the condition of women in Massachusetts, offers policy recommendations to improve access to opportunities, endorses and tracks legislation related to women’s rights, and provides various programs for women.
Spruell’s days are busy, bordering on hectic. She might be leading a day-long workshop for young women in Girls Empowerment Leadership Initiative, the commission’s program for developing leadership and civic engagement skills to empower girls to advocate for themselves and their communities.
Some days she will host a Zoom call with the 19 volunteer commissioners across the state to gather details on what issues are affecting women in their communities. She might represent the commission at a conference, forge alliances with like-minded organizations to advocate for legislation, or contact the governor directly to advocate for a bill.
Through it all, Spruell often has a young woman shadowing her — an intern she’s mentoring, offering a firsthand look at what it means to be a leader in women’s advocacy. This commitment to nurturing the next generation of female leaders adds another layer to her already demanding schedule.
It’s exhausting work, but she is inspired.
On Spruell’s desk there are two things that not only keep her driven but remind her of her humble beginnings at Holyoke Community College: a photograph of her two young boys smiling back at her and a packet of assigned readings on the causes of crime.
The photograph brings Spruell back to her early days at HCC when she discovered she was pregnant with her first child. Spruell had recently graduated from the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School, where she studied theater, a path she planned to continue at HCC. But becoming a mother caused her to reassess her priorities.
“I needed to figure out what I was going to do to make sure this little human grows up to be somebody who I will be proud of,” said Spruell. “And I thought the best way to do that is to lead by example.”
The other item is a keepsake from an influential Learning Community course co-taught by Nicole Hendricks, former HCC professor of criminal justice, and Mary Orisich, professor of economics. The course, “Keep the Devil Way Down in the Hole: Exploring the Social, Political and Economic Causes of Criminality,” used the HBO series “The Wire” as a semester-long case study to examine why people commit crimes and how society, politics, and money play a part.
“Shaitia gravitated to strong women on campus, and Nicole and Mary made a huge impression on her,” said Irma Medina, interim director of Integrative Learning programs and Spruell’s former adviser in the Pathways program. “During our conversations, I could see her grappling with the material and talking about how something had to be done, how these systems have to change.”
Awakening to Social Issues
As a Learning Community, the course was structured around three-hour blocks of class time, allowing the instructors to dive deep into the material. For Hendricks, that time was necessary for covering the heavy material in the show.
“Using ‘The Wire’ made it very accessible. It allowed me to talk about structural disadvantage and a lot of the criminological theories through this amazing series,” said Hendricks.
Spruell was an active and engaged student in the class, but her interest in the course material continued long after the semester had ended. In the weeks and months that followed, Hendricks would frequently open her inbox to find emails from Spruell with articles and stories about topics related to the class — the origins of gang violence, the effects of lead exposure, or the impact of police presence in schools.
“I think the course gave Shaitia a framework and a language to understand her lived experience,” Hendricks said. “She’s somebody that seems very soft-spoken. But then behind that is so much substance. It’s like a quiet fire.”
That fire began to spread.
Spruell gave birth to a healthy baby boy, finished her classes, and transferred to Bay Path University where she majored in business. At the urging of a classmate, she began volunteering in the Springfield chapter of Neighbor to Neighbor, which works to address housing issues, prevent homelessness, and build political and economic power for people in the community.
It was during those meetings that she became aware of the school-to-prison pipeline, which is characterized by a disproportionate tendency for minors from marginalized communities to become involved in the criminal justice system due to factors such as educational inequality, zero-tolerance policies, and increased police presence in schools. And when Spruell began to look at the demographics of who is most likely to end up on the wrong end of the pipeline, it painted a picture that closely resembled her son.
“And that’s when I started asking questions and trying to understand what was going on in my community,” Spruell said.
Building a Career in Public Service
By the time she graduated from Bay Path University, Spruell had an impressive resume and a clearer sense of who she
was and how she wanted to change her community. She accepted a position with the Massachusetts Office of the Treasurer and Receiver General, working as a community engagement organizer.
At the same time, she was appointed as a commissioner on the Hampden County Commission on the Status of Women.
“And that’s how I got engaged civically,” Spruell said. “So, I learned how to be on a board and a commission and what leadership looks like for women in western Mass.”
After a few years on the job, Spruell was promoted and tasked with managing women’s programming within the treasurer’s new Office of Economic Empowerment. The office is tasked with ensuring economic opportunity for all state residents, specifically concerning things like wage equality, making college affordable, and providing resources for small businesses.
The quiet fire started to rage.
Spruell found that she had a passion for legislation, working through the process of getting a bill to the governor’s desk and signed into law. Identifying current bills and advocating for their passage was no longer enough. She wanted to spot unmet needs and help create the policies that would resolve them.
“The Office of Economic Empowerment really nurtured me, encouraging me to ask questions and giving me the space to explore what the department does and how the government and all these different constitutional offices worked,” she said.
“And I just started daydreaming, thinking it would be so cool if I could get a job like this.”
Rising Through the Ranks
When Spruell moved her family to the Worcester area she had to step down from the Hampden County commission. However, she wasn’t interested in starting over with another regional commission. She wanted to do bigger things.
Spruell successfully applied to become a member of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women through the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators. She was appointed as the secretary for the legislative and public policy committee, eventually working her way to chair of the committee.
During that time, the commission helped the Commonwealth pass several bills to address equity gaps, including the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act in 2018, which prohibits employers from seeking salary history from potential employees and ensures that employees can discuss their wages without retaliation.
“I see her using the skills she developed at HCC in her current role; looking at gender gaps, looking at state-wide data,” Hendricks said. “I feel really lucky that the state has someone like her advocating on behalf of women and girls; we’re really fortunate that she’s in that role.”
Empowering the Next Generation
In the last legislative session, the commission prioritized 14 bills, including the “I Am Bill,” which would increase access to menstrual products in schools, prisons, and homeless shelters.
Spruell has learned the value of building relationships. Although MCSW is blessed with dozens of passionate volunteers and employers, many legislative victories are won by partnering with like-minded organizations.
For the “I Am Bill,” Spruell has been strengthening her relationship with the Massachusetts Menstrual Equity Coalition, a young activist group that advocates for menstrual equity. The bill unanimously passed the Massachusetts Senate in 2023 and is being considered by the House of Representatives.
“We found that we really get their attention through the youth,” Spruell said. “And if you can master bringing in multiple audiences it just seems to work so much better.”
In the spring of 2023, the commission hosted the first in-person event for the annual Girls Empowerment Leadership Initiative. Spruell had to coordinate the bus transportation to move more than 100 girls from different corners of the state to the day-long experience in Worcester, where they participated in workshops around conflict resolution, public speaking, advocacy, and skill building.
“And we just really gave them space to ask the questions that they don’t really get the opportunity to ask,” she said.
Spruell is thrilled to be working in her dream job but looking forward to the day when she can pass off the reins to the next generation. So, seeing the ambitious young women who care about creating a more just society gives her hope for the future.
“I don’t want to be 90 years old still fighting this,” she said. “But in the meantime, I want somebody to rise up and lead.”
Balancing Career and Family
Spruell lives in the Worcester area with her partner and two sons while working on her master’s degree in business administration from Fitchburg State University. During the spring of 2024, Spruell visited HCC to participate in a panel discussion on leadership and finding inspiration.
The event gave her the opportunity to reflect on how she remains resilient despite all of life’s demands. She recalled juggling multiple jobs as a student at HCC to afford daycare for her son — working retail at Finish Line, as a cashier at the MassMutual Center, and as a floating teller for United Bank. She pointed to her oldest son, Aaden, sitting in the back of the room.
“Ultimately, everything that I do is for them,” she said. “He is showing me that it was worth it."
PHOTOS: (Thumbnail) Shaitia Spruell '14; (Above) Spruell and her son Aaden chat with President George Timmons during a campus visit last April.
