As of 2018, Iris Samuels is a third-year student of political science at Princeton University, where she focuses on migration studies and is minoring in journalism and creative writing.

She has spent a semester studying at Sciences Po University in Paris. In addition to her studies, she works as a freelance journalist and has had bylines in the Princeton Packet, Mercer Space, Princeton Alumni Weekly, and WHYY News. She grew up in Israel and completed her mandatory service in the Intelligence division of the Israeli Defense Forces before attending Princeton.