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During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a friend. Since my travel mate was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had planned a two-week stay there on the way to London.

We reached the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and started talking to fellow residents.

Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a scientific background and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.

He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – adjacent to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.

The next day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that after dark. The man from Iraq approached me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but immediately told my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.

In typical New York fashion – a city where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.

I was employed there for 36 months. One of the benefits was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a postgrad program in international relations.

I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his name, but his selfless gesture transformed my future in multiple respects. I would never have had the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. And, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.

Critically, that job in New York led me to a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four amazing children. It was a total sliding doors moment. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.

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