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During the late 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Because my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had arranged a two-week stay there en route to London.

We arrived at the student accommodation, a big multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the dining hall, where we got some food, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.

Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He inquired what I did for a living, and I shared that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been performing experiments involving microscopic analysis.

He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – right next door to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I consider applying for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.

The following day I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that night. The Iraqi student approached me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but right away explained to my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.

In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft 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 used the opportunity to complete a master’s of international affairs.

I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had always wanted to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.

What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a position in Switzerland where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.

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