Woman, 23, ‘I fled when my father wanted to marry me off to my cousin at 12’

A young woman whose father tried to marry her off to her cousin when she was just 12 years old is now bound for Harvard.

Aria Mustary, from New York, was not yet a teenager when her dad tried to send her to Bangladesh to be married after claiming that she was too ‘rebellious’ and a drain on the family’s financial resources.

The youngster was able to convince her mom, who had been a child bride herself, to divorce him – and the mother-daughter duo, along with Aria’s younger sister, have been going from strength to strength ever since. 

Aria, now 23, who is set to study a masters in Entrepreneurship, Education Leadership and Organizations at Harvard, has founded an organization that teaches high-risk girls under the age of 18 how to be self-sufficient in a bid to tackle child marriage.

Aria’s mother Syeda Mustary, who grew up in Bangladesh, was just 16 when she was forced to wed a man more than a decade older than her.

Just two years later the couple moved to the US but – far from finding a land of opportunity – Syeda was trapped in a strained marriage with few prospects.

The pair welcomed two daughters and for a moment it seemed that history would repeat itself.

Speaking on Instagram, Aria revealed: ‘My dad came home with a proposal when I was 12 years old saying that he would send me back to Bangladesh – even though I was born in New York – to get me married off to my first cousin.

‘My mom had said no but my dad argued, “She’s rebellious, she doesn’t go to school anyway and she’s not going to go anywhere with her life so let’s just get her married off.”‘

Aria claimed that her father said the couple did not have enough resources to look after her themselves. 

But she revealed: ‘I finally convinced my mom to pack it up and leave that day.’

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Elaborating further, Aria told Insider: ‘When my younger sister was born, I became hyperaware of my surroundings. 

‘I saw how my mom basically was a child herself taking care of children, and I became her protector. 

‘I begged my mom to divorce him and leave the oppressive environment. Enough was enough.’

Thankfully, Syeda listened to her daughter’s pleas and left her husband which meant Aria no longer had to worry about being a child bride.

The mother-daughter duo, along with Aria’s younger sister, moved into a new apartment in Queens.

Syeda set up her own small fabric business to earn enough money to get the family out of poverty. 

Aria said that she quickly realized that financial motivations were the reason why most of her female relatives had been married off at an early age – and is now hoping to tackle it head on.

She told the publication: ‘If parents had a better option for their daughters, they would not marry them. 

‘Based on my personal life, I wanted to create a program to help young girls secure their own education, have financial literacy, open bank accounts, and create incentives for families so they don’t resort to marriage.’

Every year, at least 12 million girls worldwide – which equates to one in every five – are married before they reach the age of 18, according to UNICEF. 

Aria’s venture, titled Mai Soli Foundation, aims to ‘change systemic issues of gender inequality in developing countries’ by teaching young girls to be self sufficient.

Speaking about the program, she said: ‘When we continue to dive into potential of these brilliant girls, it creates an everlasting, chain reaction in their communities, and in the world. All they need are the resources.’

Aria said: ‘I’m inspired every day by my mother’s sacrifices.’ 

The entrepreneur is now set to study a masters at Harvard and, celebrating the achievement on social media, wrote: ‘No matter where you come from or what your journey is, I hope that this is a reminder that anyone, and I mean anyone can do what they believe in. 

‘I grew up as a rebellious, eldest daughter, as the main parent to my little sister, and a child bride as a mother. We had no foundations of anything. No money. No resources. And now we’re here. For women of color in this country, it’s so hard to see faces we recognize in spaces like Harvard. 

‘To any girl who may look like me, who may have had the cards stacked against them, to the ones struggling with poverty or carry the burden of the system, their families, others, I want you to know that we did this together.’