Greetings readers!
Last week after writing about the inspirational woman’s international footballer Nadia Nadim, who struggled from her humble beginnings as a refugee to being one of the most decorated athletes in her profession, it led to me receiving a lot of messages regarding her being a very positive role model for youths and also women of all ages.
Today I thought I would continue our theme of inspirational young women with a look at 29-year-old Sabrina Pasterski, a proud first generation Cuban American.
Sabrina was born in New Jersey on the east coast of the United States on June 3, 1993, to Mark Pasterski and Maria Gonzalez.
Her father was an attorney of law and an electrical engineer and it was he who encouraged her to follow her dreams in whatever she wanted to do and be the best she could be.
Noticing at a very early age that Sabrina was an intelligent child, her father enrolled her at the Edison Regional Gifted Center at the age of five and after finding her true potential she then went on to graduate from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy at the tender age of seven.
With a real passion for aviation, Pasterski took her first flying lesson at the age of 10 years old and started building her own aircraft by the age of 12.
She then took her first US solo flight with the aircraft she built in 2009 at the age of 16, making her the youngest person to build and fly their own aircraft.
At the same time, she excelled in her academic studies and completed her undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and also earned her PhD from the world-famous Harvard University and is a PCTS Postdoctoral Fellow at the renowned Princeton University.
By the age of 23, in 2015 she was already named the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, this is very prestigious lists of people under 30 years old who have accomplished great feats in their respective fields and is issued annually by Forbes magazine.
In 2016, R&B singer Chris Brown posted a page with a video promoting Sabrina’s work and in the same year Pasterski began to make traction with her community work in promoting Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn initiative which has been something that Pasterski has championed.
She was invited to the White House for dinner in recognition of her efforts of this cause and was part of a 2-page magazine spread in the global edition of Marie Claire’s January 2017 issue with former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Pasterski’s has also continued efforts to promote science, technology, engineering education for girls in her parents country of Cuba.
This was followed up by her 2017 work in promoting education for girls in Russia which was recognised by the US Embassy in Moscow.
In the same year she was named as a Forbes 30 Under 30 All Star in 2017, which added to her accomplishments of being on the prestigious list two years earlier.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, wore a fan T-shirt with her image and invited her to work at Blue Origin, which is an astronaut company that he owns.
He extended the invitation that she would be free to choose wherever she wanted to work within the organisation.
There have also been similar offers made to Pasterski from NASA and other similar organisations throughout the USA and globally.
At this stage in her career, she has turned down these opportunities as she wants to focus on her scientific work and research without any pressure.
Her consistent humility and drive to achieve more is reflected in her humble and caring nature.
However, while her humble attitude is admirable, her achievements naturally command attention due to their number and variety, and for the very fact of her being a graduate student when making these achievements.
Sabrina Pasterski undoubtedly has a brilliant mind and, whether she is consciously aware of her impact or not, she is a shining light for women looking to enter scientific fields that a little over 50 years ago may have been restricted and even closed off to them.
Regarding her social life, she has never smoked and is fully aware of the health issues that it comes with and also doesn’t drink alcohol.
She has a few very trusted friends and prefers to be close to those special people in her life which include her family and extended family.
Finally, not everyone is going to have the same gifts as Sabrina Pasterski, but in many ways we all have a special gift, be it, drawing, writing, excelling in sports, academia, oratory skills, cooking, health care, farming, building or serving your community.
There are so many occupations to choose from in today’s world and if you have a passion for something I believe you should pursue it with 100 per cent commitment.
Everyone is unique and everyone has the ability to make a difference in society, but it is sometimes our own fears of pursuing our dreams which is the biggest hurdle of all.
Adios friends, until next week.
• AJAY BHAI AMRIT is a founding member of The People’s Alliance party and is also a freelance writer. The views expressed in this article are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.
