Consistent with its name, the series ProFile features faculty and staff at York University. Included in this short Q-and-A are details about working life at York, followed by a few fun and quirky questions.
ProFile: Humayra Safa
Position at York U and department/faculty: Club peer mentor, Center for Student Community and Leadership Development (SCLD), Division of Students, York University
How long have you been with York University, and what is your role? Two years; my main job is to mentor student leaders to build successful and lasting clubs on campus.
Describe a typical work-day at York for you? 9 a.m. check-in followed by checking emails from young students leaders; giving out tables to student clubs in Vari Hall, Vari Link and Central Square; engaging and discussing with club leaders who visit the office about updates on their clubs and see how they are doing; do a round of the clubs tabling at Vari Hall, Vari Link and Central Square and check how everything is going; check under YU Connect Events which clubs have upcoming events; conduct conflict resolution among club leaders; ensure all tables are returned to the tabling room by the clubs who tabled in Vari Hall, Vari Link and Central Square; print the tabling schedule for the next day, and finish at 4:30 p.m.!
What do you enjoy most about working at York University? I get to be a part of the York community in a greater way. It is beautiful to have the opportunity to see student leaders be so creative and engage among themselves to create a better and brighter York University.
Where is your favourite place on campus and why? The Chapel of Scott Religious Center (beside Scott library) is my number one favourite place on campus. The sunlight shining through the glass roof is a beautiful sight to the mind and body. I used to have meetings in the chapel before the pandemic and it truly used to be the highlight of my week.
Describe York University using one word: Blessing
And now for a little fun…
What is something about you that may surprise other people? I can play the musical instrument called harmonium very well. I have been playing it since I was six and it is one of my biggest stress busters. In a world that has many pianists, I feel privileged to be a harmonium-player.
What’s your favourite family tradition? I have a relatively big family and my parents are self-employed and they would be out working late. It was not that often that we used to have a chance to have a family dinner together, but my parents made it a tradition that we would have a mandatory family dinner together once a week. At that dinner, we would share the highlights of each others week and have good food. I used to wait the entire week for that one night.
What’s your hidden talent? I can apply henna on people’s hands very well. Growing up it was a family tradition to apply henna (or as we call it, mehendi) on each other hands during any religious event. I think after years and years of practice, I have gotten very good at it.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? As a child, I was very intrigued with the poverty and other inequalities of the world. This is why I wanted to be an astronaut, to discover a new planet and create a new civilization where poverty and suffering was non-existent. Now in retrospect, I have realized that rather than finding a new planet, it will be better if we work together and improve our own home planet.
What is something you always have in your fridge? As a huge face mask enthusiast, I always have the fresh face masks from LUSH in my fridge. They are my weekly stress buster and are great for my skin as well. The face masks are made out of fresh products like fruits, honey, oatmeal etc. which is why they are very temperature sensitive and, therefore, need to be kept in the fridge.
If you’d like to be featured in ProFile, download the form here and send it back to yfile@yorku.ca with the subject line “ProFile candidate.” Please include a high-res photo in your response.