As a first-year student at the University of Miami, Zoe Mutombo had no thoughts of participating in Student Government (SG), let alone running for any executive position.
“I thought student government was cool but couldn’t see myself in any sort of leadership position,” recalled Mutombo, now a senior majoring in health management and policy at the Univerity of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School and minoring in public health. She has her sights set on a career in health care consulting.
Born and raised in Pembroke Pines, Florida, Mutombo is a first-generation American. Her parents are from Mons, a small city in Belgium, and Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. She’s spent many summers in Belgium and has visited the Congo several times, most recently in 2019.
As she settled into her first year of studies and campus life, Mutombo became interested—and increasingly involved—in the African Students Union (ASU). Her engagement in ASU led her to participate in the LAUNCH Leadership Summit, a Student Government-sponsored event.
Through the event, she developed a friendship with fellow first-year students Roy Carrillo Zamora and Josh Abel. That friendship blossomed to the point that the three formed a team that was elected last spring as the “Big Three”—the Student Government executive officers—with Mutombo as the treasurer. Carrillo Zamora was elected president and Abel is the new vice president.
“Roy approached me last year with the opportunity to run as treasurer,” Mutombo said. “I sensed he was going to run and was his number one cheerleader. Still, I was surprised and shocked when he asked me, though it made sense given my experience as a treasurer and many interactions with the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee (SAFAC).”
Over the past three years, Mutombo has garnered a treasure chest of experience through her involvement in ASU—she’s the outgoing president—and other campus initiatives.
After initially volunteering at ASU, she joined the board, moved up to treasurer, then vice president, and eventually was selected as president. Her participation in the LAUNCH event sparked her interest in student government, and Mutombo applied to join the SG Outreach Committee. She spearheaded one of the committee’s major events “Get to S’Know Us” and then stepped up as assistant director.
In addition to her studies and involvement in SG and ASU, Mutombo is working toward launching a new “Black and Business” organization on campus.
“Some may be concerned and wonder how I handle it all, but I’ve always been a very active student during my time here,” Mutombo said. “I love to stay busy and will be keeping up that mantra.”
Delegation and adaptability are her two strongest attributes, which she plans to employ.
“It’s most important for me to be adaptable. Some weeks I’ll make SG my priority and other weeks it may be ASU,” she said. “What I love are the dynamics that Roy, Josh, and I have—we’re our own biggest supporters. Open communication between the three of us has gotten us this far.”
Mutombo credits former ASU presidents Brittney Mensah and Kofi Bame for their strong supportive mentorship.
“They were honest with me about my strengths just as much as my weaknesses, and we interacted in a way where they were in charge, yet we also built a friendship,” Mutombo recalled. “At the end of the day, this is a college university and, as much as we want to impact students, it’s supposed to be an enjoyable experience. We want to grow. We want to enjoy our four years and be able to garner friendships out of these experiences.”
Her most important leadership focus is to avoid seeming arrogant or being someone that feigns that they know everything.
“Making people feel that I can be their friend and be honest with them is really important to me,” she said. “That’s a huge part of my college experience and one of the reasons I ran on this ticket. I recognize the significance of being the only female and only Black woman on the team and feel it is my responsibility to be the voice of the communities I represent and help make sure these people feel seen.”
Mutombo recognized that student organizations at the University have “a huge privilege” to access a substantial amount of funds for their events and activities, and her priority in her new role is to increase competency for treasurers and those handling the finances for the more than 300 student organizations.
“Yet some of the smaller organizations suffer because they’re not tapped in and don’t understand the proper procedures,” she said. “But it shouldn’t matter if your organization has 250 or 20 members, everyone who is sponsoring events is contributing to the UM experience—and that’s so valuable.
“I’m really focused on bringing forth a change in treasurer training so that it’s more comprehensive. We’ve already begun improving the training, and I’m confident that more treasurers will go into this year knowing SAFAC as a resource,” Mutombo said.
