In Portugal, students take an assessment partway through school to help guide which subjects they should focus on. Vanda’s results showed she was suited to both arts and sciences - except, by her own admission, art! Since childhood, Vanda had wanted to become a nurse, so she chose science subjects to prepare for that path.
When Vanda’s exam results weren’t quite high enough to study nursing at a public university, a friend suggested she study Chemistry instead - just for a year, she thought, before trying again for nursing. But Vanda ended up falling in love with chemistry and completed the full five-year degree at the University of Lisbon.
“If something doesn’t feel right, it’s never too late to try something different.”
From there, Vanda’s career took her in many directions: four years researching marine chemistry, several years in the pharmaceutical industry learning about every stage of how medicines are made, and then a move into the petrochemical industry, where she progressed from Analyst to Laboratory Supervisor over several years, while also completing a postgraduate qualification in Laboratory Management.
In 2017, Vanda moved to Qatar to join her husband. At first, she worked in a nursery, where she delighted in showing young children simple science experiments - but she knew she wanted more from her career. The following year, she moved into the oil and gas services industry, where she now helps companies keep their enormous machines running safely and efficiently - work she affectionately calls being “the nurse of turbo machinery.”