WASHINGTON, D.C. -- To the surprise of no-one who knew her during her time at Yale, women's basketball alum Alexandra Maund '19 is still putting her voice to good use. When Maund was not battling for rebounds for the Bulldogs she was belting out tunes for The Unorthojocks, the campus singing group composed entirely of athletes. And while her collegiate playing career is now over and she is no longer in any organized singing group, Maund has found a new outlet for her energy -- and her voice. In the process of getting her master's degree from George Washington she started a podcast: "Baskets and Brains", designed to give athletes a platform to speak about their passions.   
 
For Allison Guth, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Basketball, Maund's progression to podcast host is a natural given her innate curiosity and ability to relate to other people.
 
"Alexandra Maund is an incredibly special young woman," said Guth. "She has a light that shines so brightly and I feel so fortunate to have her in my life. Alex is someone who impacts everyone she touches in the most positive way and we are all so fortunate to be witness to her beautiful story."
 
Maund is quick to credit former Yale captain Mary Ann Santucci '18 with an assist on her project. Santucci had started her own podcast -- "Listening Toward Love" -- shortly after graduating in 2018. When Maund was brainstorming ways to complete the capstone project for her master's degree, she seized upon the chance to do something she would be passionate about. She turned to Santucci for guidance.
 
"I wanted something dynamic, something that would force me to talk to people," Maund said. 
 
So, last September, the first season of "Baskets and Brains" debuted. Through the podcast, Maund aims to combat the stereotypical "dumb jock" image. In the span of just five interviews so far with various athletes, she has touched upon subjects ranging from photojournalism to nutrition to LGBTQ advocacy and more. 
 
Yale fans will notice some familiar names on the list of guests. Maund has already interviewed a pair of former Bulldog basketball players in Clara Mokri '18 and Brandon Sherrod '16. 
 
"I've met some of the smartest, most intriguing people I know through Yale," Maund said.
 
That list of interviewees also includes former Yale assistant coach Melissa D'Amico. D'Amico is the founder of Play BOLD, a non-profit organization that unites coaches and athletes for international service trips that utilize sports and ministry to transform lives. Through that organization, in 2018 Maund traveled to Kenya. She worked with children in a rescue center and a school, going to their classes and playing games with them. It was a transformative experience.
 
"The greatest gift Play BOLD gave me was giving me perspective on the things I have, not taking anything for granted," Maund said. "The people I met in Kenya were so loving and happy, honed in on community and making the best of what they have… It taught me there's such a bigger world out there than what I see. It taught me to value other perspectives and to lead with love and joy and gratitude."
 
Back in the states, Maund eventually faced the question all undergrads face: what to do after graduation? Early on in her Yale career, she had settled on a major that encapsulated many of her passions: women's, gender and sexuality studies.  
 
"I was looking down the whole list of majors," Maund recalled. "I got down to 'W' and was like 'Yes, that's it!'. I was always pro-women, pro-LGBTQ. I wanted to explore that space, how gender impacted my life and the women around me, and even the men around me."
 

Meanwhile, the existence of The Unorthojocks (formed at Yale in 2013) gave athletes like Maund the chance to pursue two activities whose time commitments often make them mutually exclusive at other schools: playing a varsity sport and being part of a singing group. She developed a deep appreciation for the opportunity.  
 
"The Unorthojocks was one of the best experiences of my Yale career -- a group of people who understood what I was going through as an athlete, wanting to have that a capella experience," Maund said. "It was special to have a place where if you have to miss [singing] practice because you had a game, there was no guilt. We all kind of understood that. We all just loved music."
 
And as her Yale career progressed, through a series of internships Maund discovered another passion: communications. 
 
"I loved it," Maund said. "I've always loved words and how powerful they truly are...the ability they have to connect and galvanize people. Even when I was a little kid, I loved words. I was that kid that loved to spell and read. I knew doing something in comms would be a good fit."
 
That, combined with the fact that she had an extra year of athletic eligibility because of an injury in her first year at Yale, led Maund to pursue a master's in media and strategic communication at GW.
 
"I didn't know that a master's degree was one of my goals until March of my senior year," Maund said with a full sense of appreciation for eventually finding her path.
 
Maund was a welcome addition to the Colonial basketball team, adding a veteran presence to a roster that had no seniors and only one other grad student. And though she was known primarily for her rebounding prowess at Yale -- she was fourth on the team in boards per minute as a senior -- at GW she added a new dimension to her game: Maund led the team in scoring.
 
"I realized I was born to play in the 'chin' offense," Maund said. "I'm a driver, and it gave me a dynamic way of playing. I could post people up, cut, and use my quick first step to my advantage."
 
After Maund's college athletic career concluded in early March of 2020 with GW's loss in the first round of the Atlantic-10 championship, she turned her attention to her job search -- one that was quickly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. She eventually found a spot at Fidelity Investments, where she is a communications project coordinator based in the D.C. area. Maund had interned with the company in the summer of 2018 and throughout the latter half of 2019.
 
"I fell in love with the people and the environment," Maund said. "There are lots of women in leadership positions, and lots of different perspectives in my immediate circle."
 
As she embarks on her new career and plans for a new season of "Baskets and Brains", Maund carries forward great memories of her time as a Bulldog. She was a key part of the 2017-18 squad that won the WBI Championship, becoming the first Ivy League women's basketball team to win a national postseason tournament. 
 
The team's magical ride through the WBI included a semifinal win vs. the University of South Alabama at Lee Amphitheater in which the Bulldogs rallied from an 11 point deficit with two minutes to play, earning a 76-74 win that set the school record for victories in a season.
 
"That game was the wildest game I've ever been a part of," Maund said. "I remember thinking we were going to lose, then in those last two minutes the sequence of events was just so wild.  
I remember thinking how did we do that? Where did it come from?"
 
The Bulldogs followed that up with a 54-50 win at Central Arkansas to claim the championship. 
 

"I remember the Central Arkansas game, being so excited for the opportunity, not believing I would be cutting down a net." Maund said. "It was an opportunity to end the season with a win, and not many teams get to do that [in the postseason]."
 
For Maund the win was particularly meaningful as a chance to send that year's seniors off on a high note. In addition to Santucci, the Yale Women's Basketball Class of 2018 included a pair of 1,000 point scorers in Jen Berkowitz '18 and Tamara Simpson '18.
   
"When the buzzer went off, I probably jumped about three feet in the air, then made a bee-line to Tamara," Maund recalled. "I grabbed her, lifted her in the air, and she started crying. I knew the emotions she was going through with that being her last game. That class was so special."
 
And while there's now some time and distance separating her from New Haven, Maund still feels a connection to her Bulldog family.
 
"Yale is my home; my teammates are my sisters," Maund said. "The environment we have is so special. At the time I didn't fully realize how much we are a family. It's that feeling of family I find myself missing... I will cherish that forever."

 

• Baskets and Brains Podcast