Name: Zainab Olaniyan

Recipient Year: 2024

Description: Zainab Olaniyan is Nigerian-American undergraduate at the University of Texas at Dallas, studying Public Policy and African and African American Diaspora Studies. In undergrad, she served as the chair of Student Governments Legislative Affairs Committee, Vice President & one of the founders of Faces of African Muslims (FAM) at UTD, a Voter Registrar, an instructor at Yale's Young African Scholars program, a Labor Relations intern with the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County and conducted academic research on and contributed to publications evaluating the impact and effectiveness of Ebola Virus health policy on survivors in Liberia nearly a decade after the epidemic. Through these experiences, Zainab developed an interest in education, labor and health policy. Zainab strongly believes that to change the rules, we need to be the ones writing them. Therefore, she wants to pursue a career in public service in order to provide her community a seat at the table to write rules that uplift them.