Aviva Schnitzer's journey is defined by action. At Wesleyan, she plays Division III basketball, studies toward a future in occupational therapy, advocates for causes tied to her identity and heritage, and co-runs a company she built from scratch alongside her friend and softball player Malia Apor '28. Today, that convergence of roles underpins a venture called HerWay Recruiting, a recruiting mentorship service designed specifically for young female athletes, which launched in August 2025, reached 75 athletes in its first months, and earned the Patricelli Center for Entrepreneurship's New Venture Award.

To go through recruiting, Schnitzer says, is often described as a search for opportunity, but the deeper lesson is self-advocacy. It is learning how to market yourself, communicate your value, and make decisions that will shape the next four years of your life, all while you are still a teenager, often with little guidance and a narrow window to act. As for HerWay, solely focusing on female athletes, for every $2.50 spent recruiting a male athlete, just $1 is spent on a female athlete (National Women's Law Center, 2022). This is part of HerWay's broader mission: closing that gap through helping and empowering the next generation of female athletes.

The leadership thread runs through everything she does. An athlete cannot lead without earning the trust of her teammates, and Schnitzer describes building it the same way she describes building a business: in small, consistent moments. By showing up for the athletes she mentors the same way she shows up for her teammates, she creates a community where young women feel valued, supported, and confident in their next steps. The HerWay model is less about automated services and more about genuine mentorship, what she calls a "big sister model" that fosters real connection between current college athletes and the young women trying to find their place in the process.

One of the most formative realizations in her path came not from a win, but from a pattern. Looking back on her own recruiting experience, Schnitzer saw the same story play out repeatedly: consulting services run by men twice her age, who had played different sports, charging to do things she could do herself. The experience left her feeling unheard and underserved. Rather than accept that as the norm, she and Malia decided to change it. The founding moment was not a single conversation but the accumulation of every time they recognized themselves in another female athlete's frustration and knew they had something to offer.

Academically, as a double major in Neuroscience and Education Studies with a minor in Jewish Studies, she has become fascinated by how people learn and build the skills needed to navigate the world independently. Those interests have naturally led her toward a future in occupational therapy. Schnitzer's path toward occupational therapy has deepened her thinking in ways that directly shape HerWay's philosophy. Working with students who have unique physical needs taught her that the most meaningful form of help is not doing things for someone; it is building their capacity to do things for themselves. That same conviction is baked into HerWay's model. The company does not blast emails to coaches on behalf of athletes. It coaches them to write the emails, to get on the phone, to look someone in the eye, and advocate for themselves. The skills that feel specific to recruiting, crafting a message, marketing yourself, and initiating a conversation are the same skills that travel into careers, relationships, and life.

Her decision to build a company while managing D3 athletics, coursework, and campus advocacy was not accidental. Many of her peers compartmentalize. Schnitzer integrates. She describes the different facets of her life not as competing demands but as fuel for each other. When basketball is hard, her company recharges her; when entrepreneurship is uncertain, sport gives her steadiness. That integration showed up most visibly in her role as founder and president of SSI at Wesleyan, where she organized a three-on-three basketball charity event that brought Israeli players to Wesleyan to coach, speak, and compete alongside 25 college students. Sport became the neutral ground that made a polarizing conversation approachable, a reminder that the same skills required to lead a team, to build trust across differences and create space for honest exchange, travel far beyond the court.
 
Within HerWay, Schnitzer identifies the credibility gap as the most honest challenge. She and Malia are twenty years old, selling advice and personal experience to families who are understandably cautious about trusting college students with something as consequential as a recruiting decision. Overcoming the initial layer of skepticism has required patience. However, after the initial interaction, she says, trust builds quickly because the experience is so distinct from anything else in the market.

That same mindset has shaped how HerWay thinks about fit, the problem at the center of everything. The transfer portal, Schnitzer argues, is a symptom. Athletes choose schools based on who recruits them rather than who is right for them, weighing athletic opportunity over social environment, academic community, and long-term belonging. When something goes wrong, whether an injury, a coaching change, or a bad season, there is no foundation left to stand on. HerWay tries to reframe the entire process: you are not just being recruited, you are recruiting. You are more than your sport. College is more than athletics. Choosing a school that fits all of who you are is not idealistic; it is the difference between thriving and transferring or quitting the sport you have spent years playing and loving.

For Wesleyan student-athletes who want to follow a similar path, Schnitzer's advice is specific. Start before you feel ready. Use the skills your sport has already given you: discipline, coachability, and the ability to perform under pressure, because they transfer directly. Find mentors who offer encouragement but will also tell you when something is difficult and challenge you to grow. "Wesleyan is such a special place because there are endless opportunities to learn and expand your horizons, even as a student-athlete," Schnitzer says.
    
 Her vision for HerWay is a national platform with multiple mentors, coach and school partnerships, tournaments, and community events, a space where the recruiting process is not something that happens to female athletes, but something they move through with confidence, preparation, and support. The broader mission is not about placement numbers or revenue. It is about how many young women leave the process more empowered than when they entered. In many ways, Schnitzer embodies the lessons athletics teaches: lead with purpose, build connections, put in the work, and create opportunities for others along the way.