Episode 15: Sama ElBannan
Sama ElBannan, Program Manager, Harvard Defenders
In this episode, Sama tells us about her early life in Egypt and moving to United Kingdom for college where she received a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. After college, she moved to Kentucky to obtain her first masters degree.
We learn about her childhood in Cairo, where she taught herself how to bike and was surrounded with neighbors and cousins. She reminisces over Egyptian food and its ties to her culture.
Both her move to England and to Kentucky proved to be quite the culture shock, but in both places she was able to build a community of support.
For a few years, Sama worked for the Marriott Hotel where she received significant training, but when her son was born, she decided to change her work environment.
Her path at Harvard began at the Medical School then the HLS Alumni Relations Office, where she had the opportunity to participate in Emerging Leaders, and eventually got her current role at Harvard Defenders.
Some fun facts about Sama:
-She loves to dance!
-She can mirror write like DaVinci. She can write backwards in Arabic and English
-Her favorite singer of all time is Dalinda.
-She loves the movie Legally Blonde.
The goal of this podcast is to introduce folks to HLS staff members from across the community. You may recognize the names of some guests, and if you don’t, that’s okay! We hope that you will tune in to learn more about your colleagues—what their role is, what makes them tick, and why they do the work that they do at HLS. If you’re interested in being a guest, please let us know—we would love to hear your story. Our stories bring us together; we come from different backgrounds and serve all different roles, but our shared community at HLS unites us. Let us hear your story!
Filed in: Tell Me Your Story