My work examines the institutional conditions that determine whether individual capability translates into access to opportunity and power.

I hold a Master of Arts in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Leadership from Tufts University, where research on Nigerian women in banking and financial services produced the Structural Resilience Framework. I am a research assistant in the Emotion, Brain and Behavior Laboratory at Tufts, and a Commissioner of the Upper Middlesex Commission on the Status of Women in Massachusetts.

Research

Structural Resilience Framework

Locates resilience in four institutional mechanisms rather than individual capacity: cultural identity, social capital, policy protections and community organizing. Developed from qualitative research with women in Nigerian banking and financial services, and presented at the 2026 Annual Conference of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

  • Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, as the theoretical foundation of its staff mentoring program

Passion Problem Solution Framework

Assesses founder readiness across motivation, problem understanding and solution coherence. Adopted independently by four organizations.

  • Osun State Ministry of Women Affairs, Children and Social Welfare
  • Kogi State Ministry of Commerce and Industry
  • Beyond Venture Limited
  • Make Mee Elegant Foundation

A comparative mixed-methods study extending the original research across Nigerian and United States financial institutions is in preparation at Tufts University.

Presentations

Route to publication and practice. International Teaching and Learning Conference (ITLC Lilly), November 2026. Forthcoming

The Passion Problem Solution Framework: Assessing founder readiness. Entrepreneurship Colloquium, De Montfort University, Leicester, July 2026.

Structural resilience and psychological wellbeing in marginalized communities: A theoretical framework. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 2026.

Selected publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Olaniyan, O., & Aderinwale, Z. A. (2026). The psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on women entrepreneurs in low-income countries. CogNexus, 2(1), 68–79.

Olaniyan, O., & Aderinwale, Z. A. (2025). Cultural identity and leadership strain: Navigating professional challenges among women in diverse sectors. CogNexus, 1(4), 131–148.

Aderinwale, Z. A., Majeed, A. O., & Oluwakemi, A. H. (2025). The intersection of mental health, business, and innovation: A framework for scalable psychological service delivery in Africa. CogNexus, 1(3), 104–122.

Aderinwale, Z. A., Majeed, A. O., & Nwude, C. (2024). Structural pathways to equity: How estate management, education and leadership, and economic systems shape financial access and resilience among minority women entrepreneurs in the United States. Econova, 1(1), 31–41.

Professional publication

Aderinwale, Z. A. (2026, April 8). I-O psychology at a crossroads: Are we leading or reacting to AI in talent decisions? The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 63(4). Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Full list at ORCID 0009-0004-9425-5334

Public service

Commissioner and Chair of Communications and Outreach, Upper Middlesex Commission on the Status of Women, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Appointed May 2026 for a term to December 2028. The Commission is an independent state agency serving forty-one cities and towns.

Zainab Adewunmi Aderinwale, 2026