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During the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to the European continent with a friend. Because my travel mate was considering pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had booked a two-week stay there on the way to London.

We got to the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.

Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin pursuing an engineering degree at Columbia University. He inquired what I my profession was, and I told him that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.

He noted that there was an research lab at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was why he was aware of it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.

A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that night. The engineering student walked over to me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.

Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.

I held that position for three years. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a master’s of international affairs.

I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his full name, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.

What's more, that role at the university paved the way for a role in Europe where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.

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