Growing up in Dubai, Salma always had a passion for maths and physics, and numbers and logical thinking came naturally to her. She went on to earn a degree in Information Technology, followed by a Master’s in Software Engineering, because she loved coding.
Interestingly, the person who first inspired Salma to be bold and pursue STEM wasn’t a scientist or engineer at all. It was a college professor who taught subjects like anthropology and world religions - someone who had worked with the United Nations and had thrived in a male-dominated environment through sheer determination. Watching this calm, resilient woman succeed gave Salma the courage to take a bold step into the STEM world herself.
“Passion and persistence matter just as much as natural talent, and curiosity can lead you to discover things you never expected to love.”
Early in her career, Salma found herself as the only woman on an all-male analytics team. At first, she was sometimes left out of important discussions, as colleagues assumed she wouldn’t understand the technical details. Rather than feeling discouraged, Salma used this time to teach herself about business analysis - understanding what managers actually needed, and how technology could help solve their problems. This unexpected gap turned into her biggest strength: she ended up understanding the bigger picture better than many of her colleagues.
Today, Salma is the founder and Lead Consultant of her own company, Huemmingbirds, based in Canada, where she now lives.