About me
From Toronto to Paris to Cairo and back again… how did that happen? Here’s the story!
It started in 2005, when a spontaneous trip to Spain became the catalyst to lead a life with purposeful globetrotting at its heart. It is often in challenging moments that you are forced to put things into perspective and that bring you to turning points in your life. In that moment, I put together all the things that I loved – helping others, learning languages and cultures, and forming inclusive communities – and set off to make it happen.
A graduate of the University of Toronto, I drifted away from the popular finance & accounting streams and studied a mix of commerce, economic history and international studies, with a focus on international human resource management, sustainable economic development, and immigration and identity issues in Europe. Yet those university days really came to life thanks to my involvement in AIESEC, the world’s largest, not-for-profit organization to explore and discover your leadership potential. Suddenly I found myself taking on leadership opportunities and discovering abilities I never thought I had, growing my international network, representing Canada in over 10+ countries, and exploring newfound passions in multi-stakeholder partnerships and global citizenship.
After spending years encouraging my fellow students to do an exchange abroad through AIESEC, and forming a network of dear friends who came to Canada through the program, and whose couches are now places of refuge for me whenever I go abroad, there was one thing clearly missing. An exchange – me, myself and I!
An opportunity to support the expansion of AIESEC in the Middle East took me to Amman, Jordan, where Indiana Jones-like landscapes aside; I trained Jordanian students and started my career journey in the area of corporate social responsibility. Of course I didn’t know it then. What I did know was the richness of the culture, as well as the complexity and hospitality of the Middle East, would bring me back again someday.
The next stop was a 2-week stint in Shenzhen, China, to teach sustainability to an aspiring group of high school students through the University of Toronto Canada-China Exchange of Leadership association. And somehow, in between all that, an interview I was sure I flopped… a reveal that I was (thankfully!) wrong… and thus a one-day turnaround in between landing back in Canada from China and back out again on a plane to Paris, France, this time for a one-year internship with Microsoft Europe, in the area of corporate social responsibility.
One magical year in Paris: weekend getaways criss-crossing Europe, lamenting bureaucracy, finding joy in the simplest pleasures of a baguette and cheese, surviving on an intern’s budget with a wonderful group of fellow expats, and revelling in the non-stop learning working in Community Affairs at Microsoft. As my Paris adventure drew to a close, I was ready for the next step, one which would take me far outside of my comfort zone, where as they say, ‘the magic happens’. When an opportunity came up to join the team in Microsoft Egypt, it seemed like destiny to be heading back to this dynamic but deeply misunderstood part of the world.
I landed in Cairo in October 2010, thrown into a pulsating metropolis of traffic, pollution, chaos, not sure whether I would survive the one year I had signed up for to support Microsoft’s corporate social responsibility initiatives in Egypt. Exhausting and yet exhilarating – both to experience Egypt and navigate through the challenges of working on the ground, and the joys that come with having that direct contact with the people you’re trying to impact.
And then there was January 25, 2011. 18 days that changed everything, humbling moments and memories that I will never forget, and I’m still counting my lucky stars I was there to see history in the making. Being a part of rebuilding in a new Egypt encouraged me to stay and be a part of it, and so one year became two in Egypt. Two years in which I can say I grew older, but more alive. (And picked up some fabulously fun Egyptian Arabic slang along the way.)
So there we have it… freshly landed, back in Toronto, trying to master the art of re-integration and rediscovering hometown glory. Funny enough, after almost 40 countries, 3 of which I lived and worked in, being abroad became something natural, a part of my life ‘routine’ so to speak. That part of my routine isn’t there anymore, at least for now, and I think that’s the toughest part of re-adjusting so far. Future unknown, that’s a little scary too… but it means anything is possible. Prime time to put more dreams into action!
From Toronto to Paris to Cairo and back again… how did that happen? Here’s the story!
It started in 2005, when a spontaneous trip to Spain became the catalyst to lead a life with purposeful globetrotting at its heart. It is often in challenging...
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