There is a question that does not get asked enough in environmental science: who gets to decide what the problem is?
Not who funds the research. Not who publishes the findings. Who actually gets to name the problem, shape the solution, and sit at the table where decisions are made about the communities most affected?
For Niouma Semega, that question is not academic. It is personal. Growing up in Mauritania, navigating her way into some of the most competitive scientific spaces in the world, and finding herself — repeatedly — as the only Black woman in the room, Niouma did not just notice the gap. She decided to close it.
In Episode 028 of Launch with Leaders, host Adaeze Iloeje-Udeogalanya sits down with Niouma for one of the most honest, grounded, and quietly urgent conversations the podcast has had. It covers everything from the water crisis in minority communities to what it actually takes to build an organisation that puts women of color at the center of environmental solutions. If you have not listened yet, this article will make you want to.
This one is worth your full attention.
Listen to Episode 028 of Launch with Leaders — Niouma Semega on Environmental Justice and Leadership
A Long Way From Mauritania
Niouma Semega did not grow up dreaming of a PhD at Boston University. She grew up in Mauritania, in a world far removed from the halls of American academia, with the kind of drive she describes simply as an inability to sit still — “something I call workaholic, where I just cannot sit down.”
That energy carried her into STEM. But STEM, as many women of color know, does not always make you feel welcome once you arrive.
By the time Niouma was moving through advanced scientific spaces, she had grown used to scanning rooms and coming to the same conclusion: she was the only one. “I was the only woman or the only woman of color or black woman in most of these rooms,” she recalls in the episode. That reality could have pushed her out. Instead, it sharpened her sense of purpose.
When she became the first Black student in her department in over five years, it was not a milestone she celebrated with ease. It was a signal — clear and uncomfortable — that something was fundamentally broken about who gets access to these spaces and whose expertise gets taken seriously.
When the Environment Is Not Equal for Everyone
Environmental science tends to present itself as a neutral discipline. We study ecosystems, measure pollutants, model climate systems. The data is the data.
But Niouma’s work cuts through that neutrality with uncomfortable precision. Her talk, “Racism Polluting the Water”, makes the argument plainly: where you live, and who you are, determines what ends up in your water, your air, and your soil.
There is a concept she introduces in the episode called NIMBYism — Not In My Backyard. It captures something most people instinctively understand but rarely examine directly. When decisions are made about where to place a mercury-polluting facility, a waste processing plant, or an industrial site, those decisions do not happen randomly. They consistently happen in communities with the least political power to push back. “Don’t put this mercury-polluting building in my backyard — put it over there,” she explains.
Over there is almost always a low-income community. A community of color. A community where the residents are least likely to have scientists, lawyers, or lobbyists in their corner.
That is not an accident. It is policy. And changing it requires the people most affected to be in the rooms where those policies are made.
Listen to the full Conversation with Niouma Semega
Building Semega Change
Recognising a problem is one thing. Building an organisation to address it is another. Niouma did both.
Semega Change and yes, the name is intentional: Science, Environment, Medicine for Girls Achieving Change — was founded to do exactly what its acronym promises. It exists to put women of color at the center of STEM, not as beneficiaries of someone else’s generosity, but as leaders, problem-solvers, and decision-makers in their own communities.
The organisation works on three levels simultaneously: local, national, and global.
Locally, it provides mentorship to young women of color who are navigating STEM pathways without a roadmap. Nationally, it creates platforms for visibility and networking. Globally, it shows up in countries like Nigeria and Tanzania through leadership summits that connect women across borders around shared challenges.
And once a year, the Semega Change Gala brings it all together, a celebration of the achievements of women of color in STEM that refuses to let excellence go unacknowledged.
The philosophy underneath all of it is one Niouma states without hesitation: “For us it’s also important that we are the ones to create the solutions for our communities.” Not solutions handed down from the outside. Not research conducted on communities without their input. Solutions built by the people who have lived the problems, because those people understand them most deeply.
Why Representation in Science Is Not Just Symbolic
It is easy to frame diversity in STEM as a feel-good goal. More faces, more backgrounds, more stories. And while that matters, Niouma makes a sharper argument.
When the people doing environmental research do not come from the communities most affected by environmental harm, the research reflects that distance. The questions asked are different. The priorities shift. The solutions proposed may be technically sound but practically disconnected from the lives they are supposed to improve.
When women of color are in the room, not as tokens but as qualified, empowered leaders — the science changes. The policy conversations change. The communities that have been left out of the equation start to become the center of it.
Niouma is not asking for inclusion as a favor. She is making the case that exclusion has a cost, measured in contaminated water, preventable illness, and communities left to absorb the consequences of decisions made without them.
The Long Game of Leadership
One of the most moving moments in the episode comes near the end, when Niouma talks about why she does this work even when the problems feel too large and the progress too slow.
“A lot of the issues we have no longer exist, but for them to have the urge and the passion to continue the work, if we haven’t gotten to where we need to be — because someone like me has started it or moved it along, or to sustain it if we are in a position where things do get better.”
She is not building Semega Change for a quick win. She is planting something, the belief, the infrastructure, the muscle memory of a movement, so that the next generation of women of color in STEM has something to stand on. Even if the work is not finished in her lifetime, it will have been started. And it will be continued by women who were told they belonged in this work.
That is leadership in the truest sense. Not the kind measured in titles and promotions, but the kind measured in what you leave behind.
If this conversation sparked something in you, there is another article on this blog that speaks directly to how women in STEM can build the kind of visibility and influence that gives their work the reach it deserves.
The Career Truth Every Woman in STEM Needs to Hear. Because doing the work is only half the equation. Making sure the right people see it is the other half.
How to Support Semega Change
Niouma did not end the episode with a vague call to do better. She ended it with specifics. Here is how you can get involved:
- Follow Semega Change on Instagram: instagram.com/semegachange
- Connect with Niouma on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/niouma-semega-3b6483205
- Visit the Semega Change website: semegachange.com
- Donate to the cause: link.africanwomeninstem.com/SemegaChange
- Watch “Racism Polluting the Water”: YouTube
Listen Now — Niouma Semega on Environmental Justice, Leadership, and Building Semega Change
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Niouma Semega?
Niouma Semega is a PhD student in environmental health at Boston University, originally from Mauritania, and the founder of Semega Change; an organisation dedicated to empowering women of color in STEM to become leaders and problem-solvers in their communities.
What is Semega Change?
Semega Change is a nonprofit organisation that works to address the underrepresentation of women of color in STEM. It offers mentorship, leadership summits, and community programs across local, national, and global levels. The name is an acronym: Science, Environment, Medicine for Girls Achieving Change.
What does environmental justice mean?
Environmental justice is the principle that all communities, regardless of race, income, or background, deserve equal protection from environmental hazards and equal access to a healthy environment. It challenges the pattern of environmental burdens being placed disproportionately on minority and low-income communities.
What is the connection between race and environmental harm?
Research consistently shows that communities of color and low-income communities face higher exposure to pollution, contaminated water, and industrial hazards. This is not accidental — it reflects historical and ongoing disparities in political power, policy, and land use decisions. Niouma’s talk, “Racism Polluting the Water,” addresses this directly.
How can I support women of color in STEM?
You can follow and donate to organisations like Semega Change, amplify the voices and work of women of color in scientific fields, advocate for inclusive hiring and funding practices, and support policies that center environmental justice. Listening to conversations like this episode of Launch with Leaders is also a meaningful start.
Where can I watch Niouma’s “Racism Polluting the Water” talk?
You can watch it on YouTube here
