“Born in Kenya, I was adopted shortly after my birth”begins Nadia Aimé. “At the age of 15, both my parents died and I found myself alone and homeless, wandering the streets of Brussels”.
Now 29, Nadia Aimé is a cybersecurity expert at Microsoft. His profile attracts the biggest tech companies. However, nothing predestined her for such a brilliant career.
“I stayed on the street for almost a year, then I was taken care of by the CPAS and I went from one boarding school to another before starting training as a kitchen clerk”, she continues in the same smiling and resilient tone.
The street, hunger and alcoholism taught me humility.
The kitchen, Nadia adores. “Besides, today my children are fans of my gratin and my homemade tiramisu”, specifies the single mother. But the cut schedules and the end of service after midnight do not suit the then 19-year-old young woman. “I had no life, no friends, no activities. I then sank into alcoholism, it’s almost inevitable in this environment”justifies Nadia, who then decides to find herself “real work”.
Without any hope and convinced of not being selected, Nadia then applied for a post of administrative assistant at the ULB. “In the waiting room, before my interview, I wonder what I’m doing there. Everyone arrives with a diploma, except me.” But during the interview, Nadia’s atypical profile and her boundless energy hit the mark. Against all odds, she lands the job. “Working at a desk behind a computer and answering the phone felt like a daydream.”