Sahara Al-Madi

I would contribute my success definitely to my community, who has held me accountable, who has taught me to stay humble, curious, and to also stay courageous throughout it all. Really, everyone around me who reminded me of those core pillars - humility, curiosity, and courage - has been instrumental in my journey. The people I met along the way who believed in me at my lowest points are still with me as I continue to grow. That's what's helped me the most.

I think the best career advice would be just start. Even if you're not fully ready, you don't have all of the resources. If you just start and you let people know your process and all of the time that you've failed, you'll start to see that there are others in your position, too. Also, collaborating with others is very important, even more so than just working solo. You could get so far on your own, but it does accelerate when you can share that with other people.

I would give back the same advice that I have been given - that you don't need permission to start. You can build while you wait, as long as you show up, as long as you're humble and you're curious. The people who matter will see you. I want other women to see that it's possible, and that you don't need permission to start, and you don't necessarily need to be validated. There's a fine line between being validated by your mentors and only believing in what others tell you, but you also need that ability to believe in yourself and to just know that as long as you have an idea and you are alive, you can do anything. You can show up, you can build, you can ask, and the people who matter will see you. Even if you don't come from a technical background, you can still very much be in this space, and there are so many different ways to enter through different intersections of industry.

One of the biggest challenges I faced was unemployment and not having all of the credentials in certain spaces. Even though I worked really hard to get a BA from UCLA and was told that would be sufficient, by the time I graduated I had to learn to not let that harden me, but more so make me more creative in the ways that I could apply my degree. I had to learn not to let any kind of imposter syndrome stop me from starting anything, and not to let any kind of ego from others or even from myself stop me from working with others. Building alone didn't get me anywhere - it was really when I started working with others, not so much to receive something in return, but just to see someone else grow and to be inspired by their growth. Balancing many different roles like being a researcher, a consultant, a founder, a mentor, and a student has been challenging, and the number one challenge was balancing when to rest and when to celebrate the small wins. As for opportunities, I see being able to find intersections with other industries and creating different types of impact within policy, bilingual research, and expanding a mentorship web. There's global visibility and technical credibility to be built. I want to showcase to other women that even if you don't come from a technical background, you can still very much be in this space and have so many different ways to enter through different intersections of industry. People are still in silos primarily, but they're very open to speaking with you if you have the courage to go up and speak to them.

One of the deepest values would be being community-oriented. Just being community-oriented, being able to think about working in true authenticity and beyond titles or beyond where you're currently at. I think being able to speak to anyone at any place is very important to me. Being able to just be resilient and continue to push forward regardless of the trials that come your way, and maintaining hope and uplifting others - those are all different types of values that I hold.