I don’t feel like I have given up being on the front line of helping people. Instead, I’m part of a different front line—one that is making a tremendous impact on our global society.
I grew up in a small village of about 10,000 people, and as a little girl, I had one dream: to change the world.
That ambition drove me to study medicine for seven intensive years because I believed that profession would help me have the greatest impact helping people and saving lives.
A nontraditional path took me across the globe
During my studies, however, I discovered that traditional medicine didn’t quite fit in with the global vision I had for myself. So, instead of taking that route, I joined a nongovernmental program to build a clinic in Kenya. We first raised money to cover the costs, then we traveled to Africa to build the clinic.
As a doctor, I wanted to do more, so we organized a test day for AIDS and STDs for all children in collaboration with Doctors Without Borders. It was an experience that made the dreams I had as a child a reality and started me on a nontraditional path.
I went on to volunteer at a Nepal hospital and participated in research into infectious diseases. Then my journey took me to South America for an internship in otolaryngology and pediatrics at a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. I fell in love in Brazil and decided to make it my future home.
Choosing to forgo residency for something different
At a point in my career when I should have committed to a residency, I broke tradition and chose consulting at McKinsey in Brazil.
It's been two years since I started my career as a consultant, and I don’t feel like I have given up being on the front line to help people. Instead, I’m part of a different front line—one that is fulfilling and making a tremendous impact on our global society.
