10 Within 10 Recognition

Class of 2016, College of Education and Human Services 

As DEI coordinator for Oakland County and founder of Empowering Communities with Sam Jenkins, Samantha Jenkins, ’16, has built a career around a conviction that took years to put into words: people thrive when they feel valued, supported and safe at work. Through leadership trainings, community workshops and systems-level change, she creates the conditions for that to happen. 

Sam traces that commitment to a question she hadn’t yet learned to answer as a young person — what happens when you’re told, directly or not, that you don’t belong? It’s the question that drives her work today. At Oakland County, she leads employee engagement initiatives, cultural observances and workplace-centered programming that foster belonging and connection across departments. She oversees employee resource groups and the county’s Equity Council, and she helps build the communication systems and planning frameworks that support inclusion throughout the organization. During her career in parks and recreation, she secured more than $30,000 in sponsorships supporting cultural programming and community events. While with the City of Southfield, Sam helped develop Black History Month programming that received the 2025 MParks Innovative Programming Award. In 2026, she joined the board of directors of the Michigan Diversity Education Center and serves as chair of its Workforce Engagement Committee. 

Sam is also an associate producer of “The Ber-Henda Williams Talk Show,” a media platform dedicated to amplifying BIPOC voices and community-centered leadership. 

At CMU, Sam was part of the Women’s Club Hockey team for all four years — an experience she said gave her friendship, family and leadership all at once. As president and captain her senior year, she was also named the 2015 Zoe Harris Division II Player of the Year, CMU Club Athlete of the Year and First-Team All-American — honors that reflect both her skill and the drive she brought to every role. Sam said her professors in the Recreation, Parks and Leisure program left a lasting impression and that she still sees them as connections at professional conferences today. 

Sam’s advice to new graduates is direct: “Don’t make yourself smaller to fit into professional spaces. Use your voice, trust your path.” For Sam, being a CMU Chippewa means carrying a sense of community pride and resilience into every room she enters. 

Sam holds a Bachelor of Arts in recreation and event management from CMU’s College of Education and Human Services.