Shaniyah Brown is a can-do person

There seems to be nothing that Shaniyah Brown can’t do. The junior, majoring in social work, is bursting with ambition and passion. In every area of her life, she has a project she’s looking toward, whether it be writing, modeling, mentoring or studying. Brown’s feet are always moving, taking her from one goal to the next.

Brown, from East Harlem, always knew that she wanted to attend Binghamton University.

“Binghamton was one of my top picks,” she said. Unfortunately for Brown, she experienced something all too familiar to college students: the waitlist. But Brown wasn’t deterred, and she refused to take a “maybe” for an answer.

“I sent a letter of interest, and I was one of the first people they got back to,” she said. “And I got a spot.”

Involved in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Brown began her first year at Binghamton in the fall of 2020, one of the infamous “COVID semesters.” She credits EOP for helping her get through the difficult adjustment.

“Without EOP, I wouldn’t have survived my first semesters here,” she said.

Brown involves herself in EOP as much as she involves herself in her other passions. Since the end of her sophomore year, she has been a peer mentor and academic coach for fellow EOP students, a position that she loves.

“I help them with time management, organization, note taking, communication — things like that,” she said. “And it’s been very helpful for me. I think the students don’t realize how much of an impact they have on the people they meet. A lot of the time when I go to work and I’m feeling sad or unhappy, they come and they bring me joy.”

If EOP has given Brown a place to feel joy at the University, so have her other activities. She’s enjoying her second year as a member of Black Dance Repertoire, a club that she says has helped her feel a sense of belonging.

“I wanted a sense of community and I struggled to find that because of issues with internalized racism, along with racism and discrimination as is,” Brown said. “I really tried to find somewhere where I felt included, a very small group where I could just be myself. And that’s where I found it.”

Brown also feels like she can be herself when writing, another one of her passions. She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, with aspirations of publishing a book of poetry.

“I write whenever I have a very raw emotion,” Brown said. “It’s my way of dealing with it.”

She has found a University mentor to help her with her writing. Specifically: Tina Chang, director of creative writing for the English Department. Brown sees Chang as a guiding star, looking to her to learn how to write.

“I use her as a guide of what to do, what not to do,” Brown said.

When she’s not at school, Brown has another mentor she turns to for guidance: a woman that she simply refers to as Miss P, who has seemingly changed her life entirely.

“There’s also a woman who’s very well known in New York City, whose mentees call her Miss P. I don’t know how to describe this woman, but she’s literally the embodiment of perfection,” Brown said. “She’s the plug between high schools, the business world and the art world.”

Miss P, or Liza Politi, is the founder and artistic director of Statement Arts, a New York City-based program that uses performing and visual arts to empower young people from historically underrepresented communities.

Brown joined Statement Arts after high school, looking to be guided through the world of art and business.

“She helps me with poetry and navigating the fashion world,” Brown said. “She helps me with looking for publishers and editors. She put me into contact with people who are also people of color in the business world, because I want to work on Wall Street and need to prepare for that. She has a connection for everything. I go to her for whatever I need.”

Brown’s modeling dreams are another one of her goals, something she works toward — in addition to everything else she works toward. She’s incredibly determined, and incredibly excited for her future.

As far as modeling goes, Brown participated in a runway show at her high school, Village Academy High, that changed everything.

“That’s what got me into it. And then I kept doing their annual show and then eventually, I got posted on Instagram and people from the school wanted to do a photoshoot with me to promote their photography,” Brown explained. “So from there on, I decided to develop my own portfolio.”

COVID, however, managed to derail Brown’s modeling dreams, freezing her plans.

“When I was networking with my first agency and dealing with things like hair and makeup and whatnot, COVID started. So, after my first meeting, everything just got cut off,” Brown said.

Miss P is helping Brown reenter the modeling world, and Brown is balancing that dream with her aspirations of publishing a poetry book and entering the business world. She has an extreme interest in clinical social work, something that she wants to apply to the business world.

“I decided I want to use social work skills as a way to weave my way into more client-based work on Wall Street,” she said.

For all that Brown relies on her mentors to achieve her dreams, she also gives it right back. As a peer mentor both in high school and here for EOP, Brown is the Miss P for her own students.

“I was a peer meteor in high school and I worked with children at a Catholic school,” Brown said. “I did a lot of volunteer work, which I think pushed me toward the very helping nature I have.”

As a mentor here, Brown sees herself reflected in her students.

“When I speak with them, I kind of see myself in them and I see where they are and that they’re still smiling. They still have smiles on their faces and they keep pushing,” Brown said. “And that gives me a reason to smile more, and it gives me a reason to give back, and it gives me a reason to keep pushing and not quit.”

Brown sees that drive, that will to keep pushing, in both herself and her mentees. It’s something that she attributes in part to the strong foundation that EOP offers. It’s also something that plainly inspires her, and gives her the motivation to get through school and go onto a bright future.

“Seeing how EOP has brought a lot of these kids up, and seeing how a lot of these kids have brought themselves up from the mud to get here is very inspiring,” Brown said. “I learned from them to keep pushing.”

Brown has kept pushing through her own life experiences, too. It’s evident in her incredible drive and work ethic, in her determination and in the fact that she just keeps moving forward. Still, she credits part of her success, both past and future, to the foundation that EOP has given her.

“Without EOP, I wouldn’t be a Binghamton University student. And that means a lot to me, because I know that having a Binghamton degree means a lot of things. To me, it makes me limitless, on top of the fact that I know what I want to do. I’m very powerful with that.”

“To have people supporting me along the way is very comforting; to know that I’m not the only one who has to be the legs and shoulders of my future. I also have EOP with me,” she said.

Her mother has inspired her to keep that drive, too.

“My mother has been through hell and back to give me the best life she could and any time I feel like I can’t push any harder, I remember I have to make it out for her and my siblings,” Brown wrote in an email.

She’s also inspired by Tupac, who she said turned his pain into something beautiful. But, Brown also knows where to give credit where it’s due, and she says that she’s partly inspired by herself.

“I inspire myself because I get to know myself more every day,” Brown wrote in an email. “I surprise myself every day, and I wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for myself — and my mom pushing me.”

Brown has helped herself achieve what she has with assistance by earning various scholarships, including the Black Student Union Scholarship for a story she wrote and the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship, given out to students to recognize their activity and dedication to social change, restorative justice and racial equality.

She won the George Floyd scholarship for her advocacy for underrepresented communities, including work that she does through the College of Community and Public Affairs (CCPA).

“The CCPA participates [with the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences] in TRUST (The Rural and Underserved Service Track), where students from different schools network and discuss case studies of those who are not given the resources [they need] and are underrepresented,” Brown wrote in an email. As a participant in TRUST, Brown works with her peers from other disciplines, learning to care for rural, underserved populations through their interprofessional teamwork.

In addition to TRUST and her work as an academic coach, Brown works with children at the Campus Pre-School and Early Childhood Center.

“I aid the teachers in preaching diversity and teaching the kids how to treat others no matter how they look or speak,” Brown wrote. “I speak up, I speak to and I speak with all underrepresented people because I come from a place where my voice isn’t heard and I want to be the change I need to see for my community.”

Brown advises everyone to be the change they want to see for the world, to advocate for something and stick with it. She also advises her fellow peers to keep moving, no matter what.

“Don’t stop and don’t take no for an answer,” Brown said. “I’ve taken a lot of hits and had to keep pushing. You can’t take it personally. You just have to get up.”

Brown follows her own advice to a T, charging headlong into her passions and dreams, and moving forward no matter what happens. She’s an inspiring figure for many — for her mentees, for the pre-school students, for herself. Her determination is the thing she’s most proud of.

“I’m proud of the fact that I got here and I’m still here,” she said. “I’m most proud of myself — my character.”