“It was the first time I experienced a course that was so perfectly at the crux of my passions,” Quaynor said. 

Part of Quaynor’s activism that she explores through art and media is the power of representation. She recalled a moment, years earlier, when her father gave her a book about the Nigerian Civil War, written by a young woman only a few years older than Quaynor. 

“That’s when I found interest in my own story,” she said. “I stopped feeling such a tense identity crisis, and the more I was reading or experiencing art from people who looked like me, the more it empowered me. There was a huge domino effect on me, just from that act of representation.” 

It’s a theme Quaynor investigated in a collaborative film she made titled, “MAGENTA: A Tale of Two Worlds,” which visualizes the experiences of African women living in the diaspora. “MAGENTA” debuted at the 2023 Ivy Film Festival, where it won “Best Experimental Film.” 

After graduation, Quaynor hopes to create a global production company that amplifies underrepresented stories, especially of the West African diaspora. She is also considering ways to create educational opportunity in art and STEM fields for girls in Nigeria or Ghana. 

“Growing up, there were people who were from where I was from, going into the West, empowering themselves, then coming back home to amplify our stories,” she said. “They’re the reason I ended up pursuing the things I did. That’s really all I want to be at the end of the day.” 

In the remarks she’ll deliver at the Midyear Completion Celebration, Quaynor hopes to convey that the difficult processes of life are often the most valuable ones. 

“Becoming who you are is hard, but it’s worthwhile,” she said. “I am now grateful to all the parts of me, even the ones that took me to the worst places. I’m so grateful to that person, because I get to be this person now.” 

Imani Stewart: Finding fulfillment through educational, entrepreneurial freedom

Imani Stewart has been a nontraditional student for as long as she can remember. 

For most of her childhood, the Maryland native attended the state’s first K-12 school based on the Sudbury model, a democratic education method with no traditional classrooms, curricula or teachers. Stewart said the experience was nearly entirely student-led, students and staff held equal roles at the school, and all members served on a judicial committee to collectively solve any issues that emerged.

“Even though people think it sounds lawless when they hear about it for the first time, it’s actually the opposite,” Stewart said. “I mean, you’re reading Robert’s Rules of Order and learning how to conduct meetings as a 5-year-old.” 

That upbringing allowed her the freedom to explore what interested her the most and learn from fellow students, ranging in age from 4 to 19. It also set the stage for her time at Brown. When she transferred from the Community College of Baltimore County in 2021, it didn’t take long for Stewart to dive into the Open Curriculum and make connections across and far beyond campus. 

The 31-year-old Resumed Undergraduate Education program student will earn her Brown degree in gender and sexuality studies, but she said her concentration represents only a fraction of what she’s explored. 

“My transcript looks crazy,” Stewart said. “Really, I’ve taken every class under the sun.” 

In addition to courses to support her visual art practice, which focuses on self-portraiture, Stewart has engaged in independent studies, economics, computer science, logic and even number theory — one of the toughest, but most memorable courses she’s taken at Brown, she said. 

“There’s something really valuable in accepting that you’re not figuring something out immediately — just being like, ‘This is going to take a long time, but I have faith that I will reach a conclusion,’” Stewart said. “It’s a great brain exercise — sort of like a personal training to not feel like I need to know everything all the time.” 

Stewart said if there’s something she’s curious about, she’ll seek every opportunity to learn more, which is how she found herself pursuing entrepreneurship.

“I was one of those kids who would make bracelets and try to sell them or set up lemonade stands,” Stewart said. “As I got older, I realized how important entrepreneurship is to the minority experience. You get to set your own rules. It might be hard, but you can have substantial growth.”

During her first semester at Brown, she joined Innovation Dojo, a semester-long entrepreneurship program for Brown and RISD students, where she was inspired by a speech delivered by a co-directors of Van Wickle Ventures. As part of the student-led club, she began researching the inequities unique to Black women business owners seeking venture capital. 

As a Stone Inequality Initiative student fellow, Stewart was able to build upon that research, leading to her culminating senior thesis on the history and inequities of Black women’s labor in America.

Stewart’s vast and varied interests also took her to Ireland, where she worked with a diversity, equity and inclusion consultancy company through the Brown Semester Internship Program. A Gilman Scholarship enabled her to study abroad in Greece, where she worked with College Year in Athens to diversify its programming and explore new partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities in the United States. She’ll continue that work after she leaves Brown, when she will return to Athens before applying to law school.

“It’s been really amazing, because I feel like I’ve pulled this idea out of thin air, and they helped me roll with it,” Stewart said. “I’ve been lucky that people have been so open to letting me try so many things, especially at Brown.” 

Stewart wants to study law and hopes to influence policy change to create more equity for Americans. She hopes to live abroad, perhaps running her own company or law firm. 

“I’ve planted a lot of seeds,” she said. “I’m just sort of seeing where they’ll grow.” 

Stewart said she’s certain about one thing: that she — and her peers — are uniquely positioned to change their own environments for the better. 

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Oh, I’ve tried something and it didn’t work out,’” Stewart said. “But sometimes it just takes some elbow grease and persistence. It’s not always easy to facilitate change, but it’s usually easier than you’d think. I want people to consider that when they see a problem that needs resolving.”