31 years and counting—not biologically, but as a proud naturalized American woman. On February 6, 1995, I arrived in this mysterious country called America and settled in Omaha, Nebraska. Married off as a child bride at the age of 15 from Syria, I had no idea what this new world held for me. I had completed only the ninth grade in Syria, spoke almost no English, and assumed my education was over.
Soon after arriving, I became pregnant and had my first child at 16. My brother encouraged me to go back to school, learn English, and get my driver’s license. I chose community college, completed the required assessments, and was admitted directly into chemical engineering at the University of Nebraska Omaha at just 16 years old. By 18, I had completed my third year of chemical engineering while raising my first child and pregnant with my second.
Then I realized engineering was not my passion. I wanted to be closer to people, so I applied to pharmacy school. Creighton University accepted me immediately. By August 1999, at 19 years old, I was the mother of a three-year-old son, a two-month-old daughter, and a first-year Doctor of Pharmacy student. Life at home was far from easy, but Creighton faculty believed in me, supported me, and helped me recognize I was living in an abusive marriage. I left that marriage with two small children, rebuilt our lives, and earned my Doctor of Pharmacy degree by 23.
In 2009, during the recession, another crossroads appeared. I joined the U.S. Army as a Captain, serving as Chief of Pharmacy at Fort Irwin National Training Center. What began as a three-year commitment became an eight-year military career that took my family from California to South Carolina and Texas. I was promoted to Major, led healthcare operations, and learned to lead under pressure. In 2017, I retired as a 100% disabled veteran following a severe back injury. Chronic pain became part of my daily life, but it also forced me to look at healthcare differently.
Looking back, my career has never followed a straight line. Engineering became pharmacy. Pharmacy became military service. Military service led to federal healthcare, commercialization, entrepreneurship, investment, public policy, and healthcare strategy. If you had told that 15-year-old girl stepping off the plane at O’Hare Airport that one day she would become a pharmacist, U.S. Army Major, healthcare strategist, entrepreneur, investor, educator, policy advocate, and international speaker, I would have thought you were crazy. Yet here I am.
America gave me the opportunity to continually reinvent myself. The most meaningful journeys are rarely linear. They are built through resilience, reinvention, and the courage to embrace the next pivot.
