Binta Kanteh
By Zoë Eitel
For Binta Kanteh, forging a career path has meant finding an organization that echoes her own values. Binta’s interests in humanitarianism, politics and international issues drove her to work as a Legislative Assistant to the Majority Leader of the House in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Binta says it was her personal values and views that brought her to the Minnesota House. She saw herself reflected in now-Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her ideals echoed in the work Congresswoman Omar was doing. So, when Binta left Chicago in 2017 to finish the last classes of her degree remotely, she pursued an internship with the now-congresswoman that she held for six months and was encouraged to stay on after it ended.
That internship led to Binta being hired to work as a Legislative Assistant to two of the four indigenous women in the House, and the only African-American woman at the time, and then being promoted a year later to work for the Majority Leader.
Legislative Assistant to Majority Leader of Minnesota House of Representatives
BA International Studies 2018
“What led me to work for Congresswoman Omar was I saw myself in her and in the work she was doing, and that’s what also keeps me at the House of Representatives because I see my values reflected in the work that we’re doing,” Binta shares.
“I don’t know that I would be the person I am today if I wasn’t a part of these different communities and groups [at DePaul] that connected me to different people, but also supplemented what I was learning in the classroom.”
Binta’s ideals were also very important in the path she decided to take during college. As an International Studies major, Binta’s classmates introduced her to multiple on-campus organizations that fit into her beliefs. She took part in DePaul’s Black Student Union, Sankofa, the African Student Association and UNICEF.
“I don’t know that I would be the person I am today if I wasn’t a part of these different communities and groups that connected me to different people, but also supplemented what I was learning in the classroom,” Binta says. “I don’t have any desire to be an entrepreneur, but some of the characteristics of an entrepreneur are embedded in how DePaul pushes you to do more, be better, be of service, and to me, that’s the entrepreneurial spirit.”
Binta has dedicated herself to furthering the legislation in Minnesota that she believes in, previously supporting representatives with their bill ideas such as with the Majority Leader to allow driver’s licenses for all people regardless of immigration status–which was the first time such a bill has been passed in the House, but which was also stopped by the Senate–and currently on adult-use recreational cannabis.
