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In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Since my friend was considering pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had arranged a fortnight visit there en route to London.

We arrived at the graduate housing, a large 10-storey building on the UWS called International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.

Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin studying engineering at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been performing experiments using an electron microscope.

He noted that there was an research lab at Columbia University – close to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I consider applying for a position with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.

A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that night. The engineering student came up to me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.

Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where anything feels possible – she said: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.

I was employed there for three years. A perk of the job was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a graduate degree in global studies.

We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his identity, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I didn't possess the confidence or self-assurance to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.

What's more, that gig at Columbia led me to a position in Switzerland where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.

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