Nailah Smith (Stevenson ’23, cognitive science) has a passion for amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities. Through participation in over half a dozen UC Santa Cruz organizations, Smith saw that passion come to fruition.
She was a student programs coordinator for the African American Resource and Cultural Center; the UMOJA President for the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program; the SCOC internal administrator for the Student Union Assembly; and a member of the Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP), Black Student Union, Stevenson Student Council, and the Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP).
As a Stevenson College affiliate, Smith was introduced to the college’s theme of Self and Society in her first year at UCSC. The theme emphasizes the goals of both self-understanding and active participation in one‘s community. The core class associated with the college focused on the differences in people's worldviews, mindsets, and more.
“It was 2020 when I first started at UCSC and there was a lot of racial tension going on [in the country], and we talked about it a lot in that class,” Smith said. “Learning about so many different perspectives, I wanted to be a voice for marginalized people.”
To combat feelings of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and as one of only two Black students in her computer science classes, Smith created a virtual student organization called Melanin. She organized virtual meet-ups for POC students, and once it was safe to meet in-person, she planned hang-outs. The organization gained a following of 600 people.
Growing up in the small town of El Sobrante near Richmond CA, Smith recalled a large Black and Hispanic population. She said UCSC introduced her to a diverse population of people.
“I met a lot of people at UCSC, not just cultural diversity, but different kinds of people that I had never come across or experienced, and I learned a lot of things.”
One year after graduating from UCSC, Smith works in the African American Studies and Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at San José State University (SJSU) as a department coordinator. In her role, Smith builds the department’s class schedule and organizes events including guest speakers. This year, she planned a conference featuring the National Council of Black Studies hosted at SJSU.
She was recently accepted into SJSU’s Human Factors Ergonomics User Experience Program within the College of Engineering. She will pursue a Master in Science while continuing her full-time role in the African American Studies department.
Smith said STEM diversity programs at UCSC like MEP and resources within EOP gave her the confidence to pursue her goals inside and outside of Santa Cruz.
“Those groups really gave me the support that I needed to complete the Cognitive Science major [with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence],” she said. “Those groups, along with my internships and jobs, set the ball rolling for what I want to do in the future.”
One of her long term goals is to advocate for and support women, and especially women of color in tech.
“Being involved in diverse spaces at UC Santa Cruz opened my eyes to truly unique perspectives. I am now following my passion of being a voice for the underrepresented and working to make tech more accessible for all!”
Read more about the Class of 2023 and their lives beyond the UCSC redwoods.
