Have you heard of 2011 romcom ‘From Prada to Nada’? Well, I did the opposite: I went from Nada to Prada, in figurative sense.

And I am writing the below, – how ever hard it might be to admit our pasts sometimes, – so that if there are young girls (or boys) out there, who find themselves in similar situations, they can read this and have confidence that they can win, too.

I was born and raised in Azerbaijan in a financially disadvantaged family, which was surely challenging, but only motivated me to study and work hard towards my future. Being on top of my class, I managed to secure a seat in one of the most prestigious universities in Baku. When in my second year, I decided to apply to government’s study abroad programme, which, if successful, would pay towards my degree and livelihood abroad. With little hope there was for a young girl who has never been abroad before for financial reasons and against the tough competition among thousands of students for such a dream opportunity, there I was a few months later with an unconditional offer from King’s College London (KCL), top 17th university in the world at the time, and, following numerous interviews, a confirmation of the state’s funding programme. In September 2014, at the age of 20, with only a USD100 bill in my pocket, I arrived in London. Alone. And this is how my journey began.

While at KCL, I became a class president of c. 250 students for the final two consecutive years; secured a summer internship with London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in my penultimate year and received an offer to come back for a full-time job after graduation, – easy to type now, but these milestones were quite tough to achieve, and I am not even mentioning the cultural shock and the stress of adjustment! In short four years at LSEG, I built a strong reputation within Capital Markets and with other teams, progressed through the career ladder as a result of my hard work and dedication, and started building my network in the industry.

I guess, it is true that we carry our history wherever we go. Hence, it should come as no surprise that my dissertation at KCL was dedicated to emerging economies; that when at LSEG, I volunteered for MyBigCareer and secured seats for five high school graduates from London’s deprived neighbourhoods on UCAS clearing day; that I joined my ex-groupmate’s initiative, DiverCity Mentorship scheme, to help penultimate and final year students secure jobs in the financial industry in London, which I am still part of. Another phenomenon that I observed was that, although my personal experience toughened me up, there were so many women around me who were still struggling with gender inequality. This triggered my interest in attending seminars on gender topics in the industry and joining different women’s networks. Currently, I am a Women Inspired Network’s (WIN) UK Committee member, where I actively help spread the word on diversity and inclusion.

So, if you are reading this, dear twenty-something rising star, be sure that hard work always pays off; and when you do win, please help others win, too.