Yealie Ulaba-Samura

When most college students plan for their day, it usually consists of a couple of classes or meetings with some leisure room in between. However, for Yealie Ulaba-Samura, that schedule runs more narrow.

A Quinnipiac University sophomore psychology major with a double minor in theater and political science, Ulaba-Samura’s hometown roots stem back to Harlem, New York. However, since coming to campus in 2021, those roots have expanded and grown into different communities and sectors within campus life.

Ulaba-Samura is currently a firstyear resident assistant for the multicultural living learning community (LLC), a member of the Black Student Union and an obsessive-compulsive disorder research assistant at the Yale School of Medicine. Outside of her academic ventures and in between her tight-packed schedule, she additionally partakes in photoshoots as a freelance model.

Between clinicals, meetings, shifts and coursework, there is one place Ulaba-Samura can be found: the multicultural suite in the Carl Hansen Student Center. While discussing with friends plans for the weekend and what they did during their day, Ulaba-Samura said going to the suite provides an extra support system for her when she’s away from home.

The ambitious and goal-oriented side of Ulaba-Samura is not something that is new to her, however. From a very early age, Ulaba-Samura knew she wanted to make a difference in the world.

“If you asked me when I was like 11 years old, I would have said that I want to be president,” Ulaba-Samura chuckled.

However, between all of Ulaba-Sa - mura’s passions and communities lie one common denominator: the devotion to making a positive difference in other’s lives.

“Being a helping hand to whoever needs it is what I want to be remembered for,” Ulaba-Samura said with a grin on her face. “Being someone who people enjoy being around and knowing that they can be their truest, most authentic self around me.”

As an older sibling to two younger sisters, Ulaba-Samura said the fire to support other people around her was taught at a very early age. When coming to college, she knew that her path was to help others, especially since “having that already nurturing and wanting to help side” to her.

In part to fulfill that passion within the confinements of a quad and clock tower, Ulaba-Samura said her work being a resident assistant has helped solidify her love for aiding others.

“I kind of know exactly how they’re feeling at this moment because I just did it last year,” Ulaba-Samura said. “And then being an older sister and always taking care of people, I enjoy doing that.”

Being a Sierra Leonian American and Jamaican, Ulaba-Samura expressed how she felt as an incoming freshman coming from a diverse background into a predominantly white institution. While holding a position working directly with students who were in her exact situation, Ulaba-Samura said a lot of her passion for working with that community is to ensure those students don’t feel some of the feelings she originally felt.

“Helping facilitate that safe space has been really important for me,” she added.

Although students might associate the resident assistant title with one being authoritative, Ulaba-Samura said she ensures that her residents view her as a friend or someone they can turn to when needing a helping hand. Upon speaking with her, she noted that she goes beyond her current residents into other communities of students seeking the same mentorship.

“I want them to feel like they’ve had a place, so I bring them in,” Ulaba-Samura said. “I have my different events and I have our group chat. I make sure I check in on them, which has been super great.”

While already making an impact two years into her educational experience at Quinnipiac, Ulaba-Samura said she hopes to find a career that bridges the gap between her political and psychology interest — and also her passion for others.

“I was looking into campaign management or political crisis management because I like helping people and I also have an interest in politics,” Ulaba-Samura said.

In the meantime, Ulaba-Samura seeks to continue embedding herself within campus life and working toward leaving that everlasting imprint within the Quinnipiac community.

“I want to be a person who really helped other people who are trying to navigate their way here,” she said.