The marvellously motivated Maryan Mohiadin

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

If you were to ask a performance psychologist about the average person, they would tell you that most people aim for and train for mediocrity. People never really get to put their true potential into play. They follow the rules.

That definitely does not describe our Woman Empowered; this young lady realized at a young age achieving great success means that you need to be intentional; it is not just going to happen. She learned that the key to building or becoming a better version of her rests in making small, continuous improvements every single day, instead of incorporating drastic changes in a short amount of time.

As I listened to our Woman Empowered share her story with me, I took in the fact that every day, she uses her psychological strength in order to succeed at whatever she does. This includes being tenacious, having a clear vision, identifying a niche and going all-in on an opportunity. She has a knack for creating a warm atmosphere around her, she works constantly on eliminating negative self-talk, and she is always seeking that next challenge.

More than anything else, what I admire about this incredible woman is her ability to share her weaknesses; she gets excited about learning so she can turn weaknesses into strengths. I am pleased to share with you the story of the marvellously motivated Maryan Mohiadin.

“I was born in Rexdale, Toronto, and lived there until I was in grade five,” Maryan began. “I was a very smart student, way ahead of my class, but when living in Rexdale, and going through the school system, you know that there is not much offered to children living in that area. Teachers told my parents that we were doing too much. Can you believe that? My parents were not about that, so off we went to live in Kenya.”

Maryan was fortunate enough to be raised by parents who made sure she understood that she was capable and intelligent enough to do anything she wanted. All she had to do was put her mind to it. Maryan kept this in mind whenever she was faced with an educational, or professional obstacle.

My brother and I had to take a placement exam in order to get the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, and we barely made it to our grade level. We had to study really hard. Marks were public information so everyone was competing; that made my brother and I push ourselves even more.

“They had the biggest winner, and biggest loser. You got placed into classrooms because of your grades. When we first started, we were in the lowest, so we had to play catch up. We had to learn Swahili, for the test. It was very challenging, because we had to start all over in Kenya; our family didn’t know anyone there. Despite the challenges, my brother and I did well, and it was fun. By the end of the year, my marks were so good that I ended up first in class.”

In grade 7, her teachers learned that if Maryan were bored (because she was so far ahead), she would distract people. So this wise teacher gave her more homework to deal with that. She did so well with the extra work that the discussion of skipping her up a few grades came up. They ended up skipping her straight to grade nine.

“I had to focus in class again, and it was a really good life lesson. Thankfully my study habits didn’t drop. One of my issues in Canada was that there was not a push for excellence to do more, but in Kenya that was not the case.”

Not only did she skip a grade, she also switched school systems, which posed its own challenges.

“I was lucky because my brother was going through it at the same time. I did one year of high school and then I graduated. I was proud of myself because I got the highest math and science marks, and I was only 15 years old. The only problem with being so advanced and being so young is that I wanted to go into medicine, and they wouldn’t allow it. I had the grades for it, but I was too young; it was a whole debate.

They proposed another education system for me. I changed to the Oxford system. It was a two-year program, and I finished it in a year, so that I could go to University. I started studying at the University of Nairobi at 17 years old. I was doing a major at the Faculty of Medicine, and my minor in Microbiology. The University of Nairobi is a research-intensive university with a reputation for excellence and a strong and vibrant research culture. Their research work is recognised for its impact and relevance to the region. 

My parents were concerned because of the unrest at the time, so they told me that they wanted me to come home. We were going to make another move again, back to Canada.”

Maryan and her family moved back to Canada when she was 18 years old. She applied to college and they told her that she had to go back to High School.

“Hearing this was difficult for me. In Kenya, if you were smart enough to do it, you could do it. To think about going back to high school; no, I was not about that.

I struck a deal with U of T and York; I asked them to give me any exam they had. If I passed, I could come in as a second year student. York gave you a better deal, so I went to York and started University right away.

There was a lot of pushback from the professors; I had one of my professors tell me to speak like a chemist; I was not saying the words right.  My hijab became a barrier; they said it was a safety hazard; it is a man-dominated industry, so they didn’t even want women in the lab. There was actually a hashtag going around #toosexyforthelab.”

While Maryan was in full-time school, she was working two volunteer positions, and she always had at least one job.

“I was doing all of this to get into medical school. A change of events happened when I decided to enter into a thesis competition; and parallel to that, there was a business competition happening. There was a student that kept taunting me, telling me that winning the business competition was much harder than the thesis competition, so I decided that I was going to join both competitions.

I didn’t win the thesis competition, but I won the business competition. I got a job offer from Deloitte. I also got accepted to my Master’s Program. I decided to defer my acceptance letters for a year; this would give me time to figure out my finances.”

While she was working at Deloitte, she met a doctor, and she sat down and spoke with him. What he shared with her changed her life forever.

“After I spoke with the doctor, I made the decision to become a consultant. It didn’t make sense financially to go to medical school. There are very few scholarships in Canada, so I had to really think to myself; do I want to put myself in debt for a year for this? The answer was no.

I did two Global First Projects; there was a lot of travel, and it became overwhelming, so I decided to make a change that was a better fit for me. I could renegotiate the amount of time I travelled, and thankfully I get to do manager training. Overall this has been a better choice for me, and I am proud of what I have accomplished. There is still so much to do!”