Setting the pace and pushing herself to succeed is not new in her world. Born and raised in a Muslim family, she learned early in life that girls usually take second place. According to her, it was almost as if girls were encouraged to succeed, but not urged to excel.
But for her, the only doctor in her family with three siblings, failing was not an option.
In 1995, on completion of her primary education at Aga Khan Primary School in Mombasa, she managed to score 567 out of 700, an achievement that earned her a scholarship to Aga Khan High School, where she got a plain A in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
This, again, earned her a scholarship to study for her A-levels at the same school! The achiever once more managed three A’s and a B in the five science subjects she was specialising in.
“What kept me going was my family’s support and their expectation of my success,” she says.
Ismailimail 