Have you met Mariam Yusuf, graphic designer in University Relations? Spend the next few minutes getting to know her a little better.
Where is your favorite place on campus?
I really like the 8th floor common area in DICE — it’s just such a nice open space, and you get a great view of the river and the rest of North Campus up there. I like that in the summer it’s really quiet, so you can go and have a nice peaceful lunch, which is great!
Tablet or paper?
Paper. Even though I’m a graphic designer and I do a lot of stuff on screen, I feel like a lot of my ideas are easier to capture on paper. That’s usually how I start everything.
Name one thing you’ve brought to work from home.
I brought a picture of me and my husband in the mountains, and pictures of my sister and I — just to make my desk feel a little more like home.
And I have some nice prints that I enjoy — I just like to have that kind of stuff nearby because it makes my desk seem a little more fun than it really is [laughs].
What is the one thing you can’t live without?
I don’t think I’d be able to live without my phone — not for social [media] reasons, but because my family doesn’t live here. I’m from Toronto, so I rely on my phone to keep in touch with my family and friends from back home or just anywhere around the world. I like to keep my relationships close, so I need my phone for that. I know some people need their phone because they’re like “I want to check [social media] everyday” — but I’m just like, “no, I just want to call my mom.”
If you won airfare to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I’d go to Spain. For some reason, for my entire life, I’ve been obsessed with Spain and the Spanish culture. I want to go there, just get a car, and drive to every city. So that’s where I would go. Just take a whole month off and really explore.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
I’ve always kind of had this weird obsession with Marie Antoinette, I guess. When I was growing up I read those “The Royal Diaries” books — do you know the ones I’m talking about? [Laughs]
They focused on different princesses from around the world, and when I read her story I was so interested in her. And then I actually got to go to Versailles to see her palace. I went to Paris with my parents when I was 13… or twelve — so a year after I had read the book, I was like, “oh my god, I’m actually here!” [Laughs.] In the book, they talk about her bedroom and the golden rail that they had there, so that when she was giving birth, people were standing behind a golden rail to watch. And as I read about that, I thought, “this is so weird” and then when I went to Versailles, I saw it. It was so surreal to see that in real life.
So because she led such an interesting life and was so glamorous and somewhat horrible, I think it would be cool to get to know her and to understand why she was the way that she was.
If you could switch jobs with someone else on campus for a week, what would you do?
Maybe a fitness instructor or something, because then I could be really fit [laughs.] Or — oh, I know what I would do! I would be a paleontologist. Work with artifacts and dinosaurs.
What does “uplifting the whole people” mean to you?
I think it means providing an inclusive environment where everyone — no matter what their background is, or where they’re from, or what they’re studying, or anything that sets them apart from another person — should be allowed the opportunity to succeed in the same place. So really, not having barriers.
If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?
Poverty and hunger. It’s sad to see how some people live in really bad conditions because that’s their norm. It’s really difficult to have an understanding of what that’s like when you get to live in a society that’s “perfect” where you don’t see or experience the issues of poverty first hand. But poverty does exist and it’s really sad that most of the world experiences it. So I would wish that no one has to struggle with a lack of shelter or food to eat.
What 3 words best describe your U of A experience?
A big adjustment.
But let me elaborate on that — I come from Toronto and I used to work in advertising where it was great work — it was lots of fun, but sometimes projects and work would lack meaning. But working for the university, you know that you’re working on something that involves trying to make the lives of people better by providing education. So I like that the “product” that I’m “selling” here is not something that will make your hair longer, instead it’s education — it’s beneficial to our community. And so the switch from advertising to my work here has been an adjustment — a good adjustment.
Mariam Yusuf is a Graphic Designer in University Relations. A Toronto native, Mariam started working at the University in 2016 after living in Canada’s north. She is an illustrator who loves traveling and learning how to cook new dishes. Mariam also enjoys watching crime documentaries and spending time with her cats, Mambo and Tango.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.