Teela Samuel, originally from Washington, DC, moved to Seattle in 2018 to attend the ALIGN Master's in Computer Science program at Northeastern University. Like all of the students in the ALIGN program, her previous education and work experience falls outside of the science and engineering field. Attending George Washington University allowed her to obtain a degree in organizational development. She quickly put this degree to use when she began working at the National Institutes of Health as a presidential management fellow. Teela had an interest in technology and engineering while in high school, but her pursuit of the field was further sparked when she was able to work on her organization's internal web presence and e-learning materials.

After graduation, Teela hopes to continue expanding her knowledge on computer science subjects and finding challenging work . As a member of a number women's education groups, Teela also intends to enrich the community through mentoring, tutoring, and participation in women's coding groups.