"The Aga Khan Academies Fellowship Programme jump-started my career into the education and development sector. I was part of the first cohort of Academy Fellows in 2010 at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, Kenya. The four of us Fellows came from different countries and represented a diverse repertoire of experiences. The Fellowship presented an opportunity of firsts. Although I had already worked for a year on the Learning and Development team of a private sector firm before starting my Fellowship, this was my first step towards building a career in my field of study. As it was my first time to the continent, I came with an open heart, open mind, and the intention to fully immerse myself in the context of my new home. With a bachelor’s degree in International Development and Public Health from UCLA in the United States, I was keen to gain exposure to the development context of Kenya and the East African region. Through my experience as a Fellow, I began to broaden my scope of development by embarking my career in the education sector. My responsibilities included mobilizing and empowering secondary school students to create change based on their passions and engage in sustainable development practice through service learning. The teaching and learning experience with my students nurtured my mentoring abilities and allowed me to understand the importance of youth engagement. Two years of the fellowship flew by! They were the most memorable, challenging, and invigorating years of my earlier career. I developed the knowledge and skills that laid the foundation for my future, created life-time professional and personal relationships, and learned more than I ever could have imagined from the most intelligent, talented, resilient, ethical, and compassionate young people I have had the pleasure of knowing. Although I had left Kenya upon completion of the fellowship, my heart was still in the region. A couple of years later, I jumped on the opportunity to return to the Aga Khan Academies in Mombasa and Hyderabad to develop and manage the Service Learning and Leadership Programme.

The Academies Fellows Programme has truly opened doors to pathways that have led me to where I am today. I returned to pursue my Master’s in Education from the University of Toronto in Comparative, International, and Development Education. After graduating, I have consulted and provided strategic guidance on issues of the internationalization of higher education for research firms and a start-up focused on supporting international students in Canada. Additionally, I now work on education programmes and policies for a government organization’s international development department."