Getting there took time.
Before I began at Tufts, I had already experienced a Canadian visa refusal after acceptance at the University of Toronto. Two U.S. student-visa refusals followed, delaying my start at Tufts by a year.
Scholarships helped make attendance possible. The Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Tuition Scholarship and the 2022 QS World Merit Social Responsibility Scholarship, worth $10,000, were part of that support. My visa was eventually approved less than a week before the semester began.
Then the path changed again.
In 2025, I experienced two layoffs within seven months and lost my housing. Some job offers were withdrawn because employers were unwilling to sponsor a work visa. Finding a new role meant trying to rebuild stability at the same time.
I share this because these experiences belong in the account of my life, just as much as the education and opportunities do. I can tell that story while keeping some parts of it private.
A life still being built.
Today, my sustainability work and the development of Illustrious Global are part of the next chapter. The difficult years remain part of the journey that brought me here.