On Friday, November 8, 2024, Elyana Hussain spoke to students during homeroom about what it means to have leadership skills. 

“The key message I wanted students to take away was leadership. Not only leading ourselves but how can we lead others and how can the kids right now in high school start developing those skills so that they can be impactful when they get older, and even now,” stated Elyana. 

Elyana is a Licensed Life Insurance Broker who owns her own brokerage as well as her own jewelry line. She holds a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) from the University of Michigan and currently works as an Insurance Agent for PHP Agency.

During her speech, Elyana began by discussing the Law of Process, specifically how leadership develops daily and not in a day. She asked students to reflect on the following questions:

• What are your daily habits and priorities?
• What have you been saying you’re going to do, but haven’t?
• Are your current habits getting you there?
• Do your teammates/friends have a plan to grow as well?

“Today, Elyana spoke about leadership, serving others, and self awareness - being cognizant of what you’re doing. As a person, how you’re conducting yourself and how others may view you, especially when you start entering spaces of leadership in your life. Whether it be businesses, clubs you’re involved in during school, or at the highest of levels if you become a director or the president,” stated Chris Okoye ‘14, Director of Diversity, Student Engagement, and Community Outreach.

“The biggest thing I want kids to take away is who they want to be and who they want to influence, and what is the impression they want to leave behind when they’re not here anymore. Because we all know we’re going to pass away at some point, so the last thing I asked the kids was, ‘What do you want people to say about you at your funeral?’ A lot of them said they want to be known for being a leader, for helping people, for being the best person I can be, and then we went back to how we can make that happen,” Elyana explained. 

“I think the students received a lot of value from her talk because out of all of our speakers, she was the youngest. So I think there was a certain level of relatability there that maybe we don’t get with our other speakers. They could see in real life what it means to be in a leadership role,” Okoye stated. 

“Elyana was born and raised in Dearborn, so she brings a unique perspective. She also works on the Board of Dearborn Public Schools. Bringing in that perspective and expertise really brings in a lot of value to our students, especially bringing a younger perspective of it,” Okoye continued.  

“She works with a lot of different wealth management firms, so she’s very connected in the community. Although she’s young, she’s accomplished much. So our students being able to see that and resonate with it, it’s so impactful. She did a good job of providing value and bringing a perspective we don’t usually get at an all-boys school,” Okoye concluded.