Style Diaries with SGA President Allyyah Aali

By Kendra Bryant, Arts and Life Deputy Editor

Q: Let’s start with the infamous question, who are you? What was your life like before this?
A: I am the firstborn daughter to a mother who has always taught me the sky’s the limit. Like, that’s where her biggest thing was, always pushing me to keep going. Even in the times where I feel like I want to give up, that’s for my mom. My mom’s the type of person who always says there’s no giving up. That’s my mindset. I’m a very solution based person. Another big influence is definitely my dad. But he’s very much like, you have to take the mic, you have to speak up for yourself. You have to advocate for yourself. I have 10 siblings. So it’s very much a house where you learn to speak up even in a room with a lot of voices. 

Q: Where are you from, and how has that influenced your upbringing? 
A: I’m originally from Virginia. I moved to Maryland when I was in the sixth grade. I was in Yorktown, Virginia. I grew up in a lot of predominantly white spaces, so moving to the Chocolate City (DMV) was a culture shock to me, but I needed it. I needed to be around Black femininity, Black womanhood, and how race intersects with those concepts of identity.

Q: Tell me about your stomping grounds with Towson. How did you get to this? 
A: Her Campus: Towson was my first club as a freshman. Then, as a sophomore, I joined the Black Student Union (BSU). BSU was the first space I walked into where the spirit of advocacy was truly accepted and needed.

Q: What was your first experience in leadership?
A: I remember it strongly. I walked into the room for the Homecoming Committee, and there were these two Black women, one of whom was the homecoming director, Qiana Boyd. I originally applied for the vice president or a programming position. I wanted to be president, but I didn’t think as a sophomore that it’d be possible. I remember interviewing, and I remember getting all dressed up. I remember that day I wore this green sweater I thrifted specifically for it. And I remember her just looking at me and asking, ‘Why didn’t you run for president?’ That was the first time I had to actually vocalize that, like I had imposter syndrome and doubts about myself. She told me, ‘Don’t ever not apply for the things that you want.’ I became the president that semester, and that has been my mantra since.  

Q: What specifically made you say, “I want to be president”?
A: I joined SGA in my junior year as director of Communications. Beautiful role. I came to SGA to build communications between students and SGA, because SGA is here to help students with any of the problems they need by pointing them towards resources, the right faculty, and staff, who can help them. A common misconception of SGA that students have is that it’s a Big Brother Clique, which is not true. I cared so much about the perception of SGA and reconnecting students with SGA. In that moment, I was like, hmm, maybe I’ll run. I got really close to former President Rhyne II, and I learned the intricate nature of the presidency, and I grew interested. 

Q: Your mom, what was her impact on you fashion-wise? 
A: Growing up and my mom, she’s always been in her career field, and she’s always been a career woman, so I remember watching my mom wake up, she would get dressed, and I was just in awe of her. Fashion was one of my main things growing up as a way I expressed myself. It was a way that I connected with different parts of myself, too. 

Q: What is your go-to style? How’d you describe it?
A: Preppy streetwear-y. Like I love, love, love, love a blazer. I also love flats. I like that I can go to business meetings, but I can also still be seen as a 21-year-old college student. I don’t carry a bookbag; I wear a tote bag. I like things that enter the room before I do in the room. 

Q: And so tell me about the strawberries.A: I think it’s just become, like, this thing that symbolized that I’m here. It’s just something that, I just got attached to this summer after I won elections and after inauguration. It was just something that I wanted to be in my office and around me as much as possible. But it was also something that was in my dorm prior to this. I don’t know what it is. I just love them. 

Q:What does it mean to you, not only as a woman, but as a Black woman in this role?
A: I’ve never felt more Black and more of a woman. I’ve never felt so viewed as my identity before. I feel the weight every single day, every time I walk into this office, or even more, the moments when I’m having not a good day, and I have to perform. And in one instance, it’s great to be acknowledged and have your identity be heard. But it can also be a humbling tactic. It just means that my work is going to show up 10 times more than any of the work that’s been done before me. You’re going to see me, you’re going to hear my voice. Like Katy Perry said, ‘you’re going to hear me roar’. I don’t ever see it as a negative drawback of the position on whatever I think it’s just something that the university, the school community, might not be used to, but it’s something that by the time I’m done, they’re going to be thankful for it.

Q: What advice would you give to people looking to get in a similar position to you but are hesitant about it?
A: My advice to any person out there is to do it while scared because eventually, you stop being scared and you know so much more about yourself. Like, to look back down the line and see that you did it while you were scared? You look back down the line and be like, dang, it wasn’t even that bad.

Due to technical difficulties with The Towerlight’s website, this article was originally published in the Towerlight Today e-newsletter on Sept. 19, 2025. The article was posted to The Towerlight’s website on Oct. 4, 2025.