Ayanna Samuels’ blast-off

A big part of her passion involves inspiring people to be their best selves and her own path has charted the course to enable that goal.

Ayanna Samuels, 36, told

All Woman that growing up she always wanted to be an astronaut, much to the amusement and cynicism of others, but this response, she said, taught her determination and fuelled her to challenge the status quo.

“When I told teachers they would give a look like, ‘Is she well?’ But people who mattered most to me made me feel like it was possible. Whenever there were articles about astronauts my parents would forward them to me and I saw most of the training was at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and I said that’s where I’m going and it didn’t matter, it could be Russia or the coldest parts of the world, I knew I had to go,” she said. “The idea of zero gravity and intrigue excited me. I would lie and look in the stars and I wanted to be able to explore that.”

And so, upon leaving Campion College, Samuels applied to MIT where she pursued a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering with information technology, before moving on to do two master’s degrees at the same institution in technology policy and aerospace engineering.

At the time of her acceptance into MIT’s undergraduate programme, Samuels was the only Jamaican to have been accepted, and in 2005 became the first black woman since 1972 to graduate with an MSc in aerospace engineering. She uses her experience as a motivational tool to inspire young women.

Now a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, she explained that the experiences she’s lived make it necessary for her to motivate others to chase their dreams.

“Whether I wanted to actively face it or not, it was clear to me that I was charting a new path. To think it took an international student to come and break a 32-year barrier meant something. Having experienced a seven-year tenure there, where I had to work twice as hard to be heard and to be respected because of my gender, race, height, being an international student — all of these came together,” she said.

“There were situations such as a run-in with a janitor who came up to me and said, ‘Thank you for picking up that bag yesterday.’ When I told her I was not the janitor she looked at me like I was hallucinating, and she walked off seemingly pitying me for believing I was a student there. It was a bit seminal for me because most people who looked like me were cleaning staff. Therefore I was eager to create a path and encourage others to follow this path. I became a crusader for women in this field, to make them know it is very possible for a little black girl to achieve,” Samuels said.

As such, she has engaged in many motivational talks to give the same encouragement to women.

“I hung out with guys a lot, and I remember one asking another, ‘Do you think Ayanna is pretty?’ And he said, ‘No, she has a nice body but no, she doesn’t look good.’ And it takes an immense amount of self-affirmation to tell yourself, no, it is not true. In relying on myself for my own definition of beauty I began to grow a skin I would now have needed to be successful — not just here in our country but abroad,” she said.

Samuels has since worked with the Cherie Blair Foundation, which combines mentoring with technology to offer cross-border support to women entrepreneurs, and this showcases another passion of hers — the development of emerging economies, especially that of the Caribbean’s gender and ICT industry, which she has been doing for over 11 years.

“I’ve done research in St Lucia, funded by the Caribbean Development Bank, looking at understanding exactly where the disparity lies in gender. The study was called ‘Gender and equity in the St Lucia ICT sector project’ and it revealed that stereotyping in a patriarchal environment will make women fearful of self-actualisation… and I’m very passionate about this,” she said.

She added: “There are so many avenues where you don’t see women applying, and when I speak to this they tell me that we are not applying because we’re not interested. But could there be influence from younger ages where the toys they were given to play with implied certain gender roles? A doll would suggest that your role is in home making and getting everybody ready and making sure they’re fed, and a truck would suggest you are good at hand coordination. This eventually spills over to the type of subjects we lean towards in schools, which then determines what our specialities become. We have to change the perception so that women can go after other careers too.”

This has enabled her to also work with the World Bank, Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations, CARICOM, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre, International Telecommunications Union, Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation and the International Institute for Communications and Development.

Also a champion for educational development, Samuels is an international body-building and fitness athlete — another medium she uses for inspiration.

“In my quest to reclaim my health and wellness, I lost a total of 41 pounds and got into the best shape of my life at 34. My inspiration was my first body-building and fitness competition in which I placed fifth, won the award for best presentation, and received the nod to compete internationally for Jamaica. There’s no challenge you can’t overcome. It is about realising that even though the norm may be one thing, you can rise above that in the same setting. You can swim against the tide. You don’t know your full strength until you’re tested,” she said.