A 35-year-old mother of 7 named Alena Maze has made history as the first-ever black woman to earn a Doctorate degree in Survey Methodology in the world.
Alena is a famous YouTuber and a mother of 7 who successfully earned a Ph.D. in Survey Methodology. She is the first and only Black person in the world to hold a doctorate degree in that field.
She mentioned that she was inspired to pursue a career as a survey statistician because of her passion for math and health and she hopes to develop inclusivity in surveys. Alena obtained her bachelor’s degree in Pure Mathematics at Bowie State University, United States.
Alena said in an Instagram post that she started her university journey at the age of 19 and graduated with her bachelor’s degree at the age of 22. She mentioned that it was during that period she gave birth to her first two children.
She proceeded to George Town University to bag a master’s in Applied mathematics. After earning her master’s at Georgetown University, Alena said she went on to pursue her Ph.D. in Survey Methodology and Statistics from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Alena shared on Facebook that she obtained her Ph.D. after passing her dissertation defense and that she is the first African American to do so.
“What’s a Survey Methodologist? Well, I’m a Survey Statistician, so specifically, I research the math behind surveys, Suppose we want more information on how diabetes affects women ages 30-40, in order to develop better treatment courses,” Alena said.
”Well in a perfect world, we would like to send out a survey to all women ages 30-40 with diabetes. However, this is not practical for many reasons. So instead we chose a smaller group (called a sample), say 2,000 women from that same population to represent the whole population of 30 to 40-year-old women with diabetes,” she added.
Alena juggled her doctorate studies with her married life for 6 years, raising her 7 children, and vlogging. She said she was able to push through with the help of her parents, sisters, husband, and closest friends.
”Sometimes I thought I may not be able to finish it, but I kept my eye on the one who I knew put this desire in me. The Lord, my Father. Yes, women we can have families, be educated, run our own business, and have industry jobs! We can have it all with HELP! Why? Because the Lord says so. ,” she said.
Alena stated that she has accomplished a lot of things through her hard work and also credits God for her success. “During this time, I encountered God’s love, through a divine meeting with His Holy Spirit in a way I cannot wait to share. His love has been enough for me to manifest anything I desire to do, be, or become,” she said.
