Hidden away in an alcove on the upper floors of the Joseph F. Smith Building, BYUSA's Executive Vice President Tala Alnasser often sits working away on her computer: finishing assignments, meeting with coworkers and delegating tasks. Perhaps unknown to many around her, Alnasser came far to attend BYU.
“When (Alnasser) was first applying, she applied to BYU just to apply … she wasn’t super ecstatic with the idea of coming,” Sama Salah, one of Alnasser’s closest friends, said.
Now, Alnasser is currently serving as the BYUSA Executive Vice President for 2024-2025. Along with BYUSA President Sarah Sun, Alnasser is striving to bring to life her vision for BYU.
Alnasser said she owes a lot to her roots, being Arab-Muslim and hailing from Jordan and Palestine. Her unique background shapes not only how she interacts with people but also the change she seeks to make within the BYU community.
“When I meet someone for the first time and they find out I’m Arab or Muslim, I spend the first 20 minutes explaining what being Arab or Muslim is not,” Alnasser said. “To elicit change, sometimes you need to be the first one … you need to put your foot forward.”
To Salah, being in the minority means that “you have to adapt, you have to become proud of who you are,” Salah said. “That's something that I really admire in (Alnasser).”
Salah added that Alnasser's background contributes to her strong sense of identity.
“She is proud of (her roots) no matter what, and that’s something that I think makes her such a trustworthy person,” Salah said.
As part of her job with BYUSA, Alnasser leads the organization's marketing efforts. This allows her opportunities to build representation on campus and to establish a ‘culture of curiosity’ — not only within her team, but on campus as a whole.
“I’m not trying to create a safe space, but more of a brave space for people,” Alnasser said. “If you share something, you feel comfortable having your ideas being challenged, because that’s where learning happens.”
For Alnasser, the learning she referred to is centered around increasing proximity with other cultures — building bridges by facilitating open dialogue. One way Alnasser said she promotes this sort of proximity is by proudly displaying her heritage and encouraging others to do the same.
“The more you wear (cultural clothing), the more decorations you put (up), the more people feel comfortable asking about it, and … ultimately they’ll feel like they understand you,” Alnasser said.
Ultimately, Alnasser’s favorite part of the job is talking with, connecting with and helping people.
“If I hear a student that (says) ‘the advice that you gave really helped me,’ that means more to me than whatever I have on my resume,” Alnasser said. “Those types of connections aren’t something that can really be quantified.”
Noah Hanson, a co-worker of Alnasser, remarks that she is engaging to work with because of her passion for these sorts of connections.
“One of my favorite things about her is she’s just so involved, she is so passionate about what she does, she’s very direct and clear about her intentions and about her beliefs,” Hanson said.
To Hanson, Alnasser is “very much a leader, in every sense of the word.” She allows Hanson and the other marketing co-director to be fully involved with the ideation process of the many different marketing campaigns that they launch Hanson said.
One thing that struck Hanson as he began to work with Alnasser was that she was completely unafraid to make her opinion known and have difficult conversations.
“She’s not offended by what other people think about her,” Hanson said. “She has a confidence that supersedes her position — it’s not about where she is or … who she’s working over, her confidence comes from who she is.”
For Salah, that confidence and directness is one of the valuable things she has learned throughout her friendship with Hanson.
“If that’s a room that is uncomfortable, then make it uncomfortable — let’s have those difficult conversations,” Salah said about Alnasser. “That’s where we learn most.”
As BYUSA Executive Vice President, Alnasser helps sponsor events, create marketing campaigns and connect peer-to-peer with students to affect the kind of change that she finds important.
The theme for this year’s BYUSA council is ‘Becoming BYU’ — something that Alnasser embodies with her directness, passion and cultural pride.
To Alnasser, the theme teaches “this idea of reclaiming what it means to attain a BYU education, acknowledging the interdisciplinary nature of learning and how multifaceted BYU students are.”