Sarah Benjamin

Growing up in Riyadh, life hadn't been easy. From exploring my limited surroundings to witnessing people's treatment of me because of the color of my skin, my sense of curiosity had been a power element in my life. I loved painting, music, sports, reading, nature, and shadow photography. Beyond a rejecting world, I had created my own that embraced me. I graduated high school in 2005 with high expectations of going to university (even bought items for my future dormitory!), but found it even more difficult to reach my dream of completing my education. So I caved. Those two years of caving may have seemed like no hope for a change, and all I could hold on to was my love for learning, exploring, and reflecting. My mind could no longer adapt to the reality of being 'static'. It was high time to do something about it. At 20, I put myself through school by giving private tutoring, and soon was selected among 200 English instructors to teach college prep year at KSU. It seemed like an achievement at the time, but I couldn't stop there. My bachelor's, master's and PhD are still waiting for me down the line. At 23, I discovered by accident that the distance learning university I'd been attending religiously was a fake one, and my credits were worthless. 3 years of working as a teacher, private tutoring all day and going to night school, bore no fruit. As demoralizing as it was, I imagined how small I was compared to the size of this world. I also imagined how much ground and opportunities besides the setback I could still explore. So I continued working, traveling when I could, meeting people from various cultures; and between fulfilling experiences and learning from mistakes, I embarked on a self improvement journey. I never stopped learning. Fast forward to Sept 2017, having accumulated 6 years experience working in the marketing field, I got accepted with partial scholarship to the university of Roehampton to study MSc in Marketing. On March 2018, I got married to the love of my life. Instead of walking this journey alone, my husband holds my hand, and we now walk it together. I feel blessed to have never let go of my sense of curiosity. Life hasn't eased up on me yet, and I'm still a dot in this world. All I know is that I'll keep reaching for the the best version of myself, and I'll never stop exploring. I hope to inspire others in the future to keep pushing, no matter what.