Unofficial story

My life has motivated me to understand the world by inquiring about the human capacity to break barriers. I hope this reflection on my background encourages you to look beyond perceived limitations, clean CVs, or fancy university logos. I hope it encourages you to see your weakness as strength, your failures as opportunity for growth, and your background as a toolkit for your unique future. 

Apply to the dream school. Write the proposal with your bold idea. Cold-email the big-shot professor. Collaborate with those who know more. Where there is wonder, great research should scare us a little with its possibilities. 

Born in Romania and raised in Ireland, I am the product of two cultures and four languages . My upbringing as an immigrant girl was defined by multicultural fluency, learning to navigate education as a female foreigner surrounded by ever-changing benchmarks of success. I was mostly raised around small tables filled with yummy food that my classmates called weird, in church gatherings after long bus rides, and four flights up an old Georgian apartment building with working class friends from around the world –  America, India and Hungary.

For years, my dad was a revolutionary (circa 90’s) stay-at-home dad. Then, for over a decade he worked night shifts to support our family and spent his daylight looking after me. There were park visits with sticky ice-cream fingers, the wonder of free museums, afternoons chatting about existence. I also learned from a trailblazer working mom, who worked her way up from housekeeping to management, then became a top-class nurse after completing and undergrad and multiple masters, all in a foreign language in her forties. 

Before attending a wonderful high school, I went to an inner-city elementary school with fun after school programs. I like to think that I graduated sixth grade with a degree in class politics and conflict resolution. University attendance was the exception in my community, most of which comprised people who had left everything behind, some of whom had risked their lives to enter Ireland before Romania was part of the EU. Hence, most families encouraged their children to start work early or pick traditional degrees with secure employment prospects. 

Nevertheless, my parents were very supportive and I spent time talking to a lot of different people in different fields. With their help, I didn't pick the safe path. Quite the opposite: a general Psychology degree, followed by a PhD. It's been both a privelege and a challenge. In the end, the challenges have become my greatest adventure. The obstacles and opportunities enable me to fully appreciate each victory as I continue to reach people through story – both mine own, and by contributing to science, which explains how stories are represented in the human mind and how they shape the way people see and move through the world.