Today we’d like to introduce you to Nadiya Hussain.
Hi Nadiya, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I’m thrilled to be here and share my journey to the tech world, but more importantly the struggles that led to where I am today. As someone who’s been forced to live an anomalous life, my goal here is to make at least one less person feel alone. All my life I’ve blamed circumstances for the hardships they’ve bought, while disregarding their power of delivering lifelong resilience and discipline. I eventually realized that my success is only worth so much to me due to past failures that contrast it.
Born in a country largely inadequate of women protection laws, I was exposed to legalized cruelty at a very early age. When I was 9 our family came to this country to live under a system where one couldn’t justify abuse via the convenience of established culture. A clean slate, but not such an easy one.
My life as a college student consisted of learning to code and preparing myself for the world of technology in parallel to enduring the trauma of an abusive alcoholic father around me. I wasn’t the student that cared much about anything outside of my academic achievements since graduating and securing a job was my only ticket to escaping an immensely toxic world. As much as I hated operating from a survival mode, it’s opened more doors than staying in a comfort zone.
My approach to choosing my field is largely based on my own attributes and affinity for anything that requires analytical thinking. After graduating, I took the initiative to surround myself with a safe and healthy space, leading me to the world of data science.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Aside from the known struggles of growing up in a toxic environment, there is much impact on an individual’s mental health after the heinous events pass. Part of my upbringing consisted of witnessing women intentionally suffering as if it was a sort of duty. Misery was always glorified, which led me to believe that I should only work towards more struggles versus reaching a point of success and peace. I have felt intense vulnerability throughout this journey. When you grow up in an environment solely entailing misery and fear, you start to believe you’re destined for failure.
I’d say the biggest challenge was believing in my own potential. I actively resisted the environment and beliefs around me while being labeled as the black sheep. This has led to extreme alienation at times, but I promised myself I’d hold my ground even if it resulted in isolation. Blending in solely to maintain peace never resonated with me, and it’s certainly not the reason for where I am today.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m currently part of a data science team where I have the honor of contributing towards disease detection, predictive analysis, machine learning, and all that is ascending our healthcare system. The core of my work is understanding how to navigate through large amounts of data, harnessing interoperability, and extracting insights that can be utilized to build algorithms. These powerful algorithms have the potential of implementing more efficiency and streamlining operations. My latest work consisted of building a model to detect anomalies within X-rays that could result in a diagnosis. This robust model has the capability of detecting a disease before it advances to a stage that would require extensive prevention or treatment measures.
Any big plans?
I’m so happy to be where I am, and my plan is to continue progressing within healthcare technology. I love my work and knowing that it’s strengthening the foundation of our well-being, healthcare. As rough and merciless the past has been, it has landed me in a place of immense satisfaction, gratefulness, and joy. After all, the ability to practice gratitude for what we have is the ultimate reward.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: nadiyaa__g
