Olamide Bola is currently a Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. While Olamide hopes to pursue a PhD in economics, she first began her journey at the Ohio State University where she was exposed to social justice-focused works by activists and theorists like Audre Lorde and James Baldwin. Along with her lived experiences, these radical works sparked a desire to conduct research that is relevant to her life and other marginalized peoples’. Thus, in 2017, Olamide conducted her first independent research project as a Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) fellow where she studied racial wage differentials across fields. This experience solidified her commitment to using economics as a tool to explore inequality and marginalization. In 2018 she participated in the American Economic Association Summer Program (AEASP) where she and her partner won “Best Research Topic” for a study in which they analyzed police stops of non-whites in gentrified neighborhoods. After graduating in 2019, Olamide completed an internship at the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. There, she studied housing inequality and mortgage loan discrimination in Ohio. Olamide’s research interests include the marriage and dating market, colorism, and China’s foreign direct investment in Nigeria. When she’s not researching, studying or working Olamide enjoys candle collecting, watching reality TV and cuddling with her 11 year old Cairn Terrier Wellington, who she affectionately calls “Welly”.