Her Story
About Josine
I was born and raised in Rwanda, where I grew up in extreme poverty. Seeing what was around me, I knew for sure that I wanted nothing like that, and that has always kept me going. I wanted better for myself, which motivated me to work on my mindset and overcome my limiting beliefs. I didn't see any better where I was, so I knew I had to do so much work internally, especially mentally, to put myself out of the proximity of where I was raised. My mission in life is really to be better than the town I grew up in. I earned my MBA degree in supply chain management from North Carolina State University, graduating in May 2023. I've been working in supply chain and data analytics for almost 4 years, currently serving as a supply chain manager working on strategic projects to launch supply chain infrastructure in different countries worldwide. I'm also a writer with more than 5 years of experience and 3 published books. Beyond my professional work, I've created my own nonprofit where I provide space for women to just relax through different events, such as tea parties in my community. I host gatherings for women to just be and share their struggles with work, creating a safe space for them. I find that creating a safe space for people to just be instead of doing all the time is pretty helpful in the tech industry. This takes up most of my weekends organizing these events in my community.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Josine
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to how I was raised. I was born and raised in Rwanda, and I grew up in extreme poverty. Seeing what was around me, I knew for sure that I wanted nothing like that, and that has always kept me going. I wanted better for myself. I feel like it has motivated me to work on my mindset to make sure that I'm overcoming my limiting beliefs, because I didn't see any better where I was, and I knew I had to do so much work internally, especially mentally, to put myself out of the proximity of where I was raised. My mission in life is really to be better than the town I grew up in.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever received was that I don't have to chase life, I only have to receive it. This means that in everything that I do, if I feel like my energy is chasing something, instead of receiving it, instead of doing things that I'm passionate about, then I really do know that I'm giving more than I have. At the end of the day, I really only need to receive life instead of chasing it. That has helped me a lot in my life. I just always have to re-evaluate myself with everything that I'm doing. Am I chasing something? Am I trying to control things that I have no control over? And that always keeps me grounded, I would say.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The advice that I would give to young women right now is that personally, I don't like the concept of working harder. I love work to be an extension of me. So I would say in whatever you do, make sure this is an extension of you, because at the end of the day, we spend 90% of our time at work, so if you're doing something that's not an extension of you, something that you don't enjoy, you're pretty much spending 90% of your entire life doing things that you don't enjoy. Given advice of working hard is not one of the things that I do. I like to do things that are an extension of me. Therefore, work feels effortless.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say challenges are definitely work-life balance, trying to balance out having a personal life and also keeping a professional life. It's really, really hard. Some days you might not have the balance that you want, other days you might have the balance that you want, so you have to figure out which one works for you, but I think it's just a challenge for everybody, to be fair.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Some of the values that are important to me are staying true to myself in a way that I have to always follow my heart. Following my heart is extremely important, and being able to be comfortable in my own skin, no matter what I'm doing. I want to make sure that I'm staying as authentic as I can be. I'm making sure that I'm staying true to myself as much as I can be, and that's just one of my values that I hold dear. I also like honesty, being honest with myself, with everything that I do, not taking more than I can handle, just being true to myself and staying honest to myself, to what I can handle, what I cannot handle, and having strong boundaries.
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