Blossoming and Blooming recently interviewed Gabrielle, the founder of The Hope Gene,
who is not only studying her Master’s but is also a research assistant at Imperial College. Working on clinical trials in dementia and multiple sclerosis, her work aims to understand the diseases better and find interventions that can help people with the diseases. Having graduated from King's College in 2018 with a Neuroscience degree, Gabrielle shared her journey to and from university. Check out her inspirational journey below that left us speechless.
Growing up, what were your interests and how did they shape your educational journey?
“When I was younger I always knew that I wanted to go into mental health and psychology. Even as a young person myself, I knew that I wanted to help young people with their mental health and to help them realise and fulfil their potential. When I went into A-Levels, I studied Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Psychology, with the hope that they would be what I needed to do whatever I wanted to do in the future. I hated psychology and dropped it in the first year of A-Levels.”
“I was really stumped on what I was going to do in university, it was quite a big stress point, like it is for most people. I had a lot of people telling me to become a doctor in my ear. On the other hand, one of the main driving forces for me was mental health so I thought maybe I could do psychiatry but I knew that I did not like the rest of the medical stuff. I didn’t know if I could cope and deal with five years of medicine knowing that I had no interest.”
After being advised to study medicine, despite having no interest, what did you end up studying and why?
“My mum found Neuroscience and to be honest I had never heard of the word but it was definitely the cross between brain health and understanding the mind as much as we can as well as including science and medicine. It was the perfect middle ground and I thought understanding the science behind it might be more interesting to me than anything else. Even though I knew nothing about it, I thought it would be perfect for me. I went on to apply to do Neuroscience and went to King's College.”
Once you had set your mind on the course you wanted to do, how did you approach choosing the right university for you?
“For me, I can be very indecisive but when it comes to knowing what God is telling me, I knew that I was going to King’s College. I didn’t even have a back up! I was researching the universities that offered Neuroscience and found King’s and knew that was it. I also applied to UCL - even though I knew I was going to King’s I applied anyway. My chemistry teacher would not give me the predicted grades to get in.”
“In the end I ended up getting the grades, but they had rejected me because he did not predict the grades initially. That just shows you, God will literally close the doors He doesn’t want you to walk through. If you do not close them yourself, He will close them for you. In that way God is very very faithful and even when God tells you something and you’re disobedient He will definitely shut down things that are not for you to keep you on the right path.”
Leading up to the end of your degree, what was your thought process of navigating life after graduating?
“In third year I very much struggled with what is the next step and what I was going to do. I struggled so much with the idea that I didn't know what I was going to do when I left uni. My mum saw me stressing and encouraged me to focus on finishing my degree. Honestly, that was like a weight lifted off my shoulders where I could just relax and breathe so I didn’t look for anything. I was working in retail at the time so when I finished uni I continued working for a few more months. In that season when people used to ask me what I was doing, I did not know. It was so difficult because I was adamant that Neuroscience was the thing for me, so when the time came to know what I was going to do next, I felt like I should have a good response for them but I just didn’t.”
“It was a very daunting period where I had to know I was doing the right thing regardless of whether it looked like I was. In those moments if God has told you to do something the vision is given to you, so you cannot expect everyone to understand the vision or for it to make sense or to even have the backing from everyone else. It is not even their fault but the vision is not for them, it is for you. You have to be okay with the fact that you are following God’s instruction and that the instruction is for you.”
“Leaving uni was difficult but once I decided to let it all go with the knowledge that God had brought me this far and was not going to leave me now, I could rest in that and not have to feel like I needed to be in control of everything before the moment comes. When it comes to steps, if God was to show you what your life will look like in twenty years time, it would be daunting! As humans we would try to work out how to get there and probably take the wrong steps. So sometimes God gives instructions and guides us with little pieces and steps. We have to be okay with the little pieces and know that He will only give us the amount we need to know at the time we need to know it.”
Aside from trusting God, how did you get from not knowing what you wanted to do to starting your career?
“I discovered that research assistants was something Neuroscience graduates often went into and it kept on coming up when I was googling for jobs. I wanted to become a research assistant so I started applying and applying and applying and most of them required a masters, so I was applying for things I didn’t have the qualifications for.”
There was a job at Imperial College for a PA to the head of brain sciences; I had already made applications to Imperial so I thought I might as well apply. I had forgotten about it and had no experience as a PA but I was desperate to work in the area of brain sciences. Weeks later they invited me to an interview and I wasn’t going to go. I would have to go through all of the effort of going and I was sure I wouldn’t get the job anyway! My dad encouraged me to go and an hour after the interview they called me to say that I did not get the job because I did not have enough experience - which I knew! They said that they would love to offer me another position and asked me what I would like to do. It was mind blowing, they were asking me if I wanted to work in the lab or do admin stuff. It turns out that from the start they saw my CV and decided to bring me in because they had in mind another job that would be good for me, so I ended up becoming a research administrator and was promoted seven months later to a research assistant.”
“That testimony has taught me that you don’t know which door is leading to what God has for you. You can’t undermine it because it does not look the way you think it should look - God is not confined by all the things we are confined to. If it was up to me I would have not gone as I even interviewed for another job elsewhere and would have just settled for that. Just because the blessing is not packaged in the way you think it should be packaged, it doesn't mean that it is not God giving you a blessing. That is how I became a research assistant without the masters and without the experience.”
What an incredible testimony Gabrielle has shared with us, from facing uncertain moments to seeing the certainty of God throughout the journey. We hope this has encouraged you but stay tuned because there is more... We are delighted to announce that part two of this interview will be shared in the coming weeks. Follow our social media pages and join our mailing list to receive updates on the next part of the interview.
To follow The Hope Gene and see the beautiful products created by Gabrielle please visit the links below.
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Keep Blossoming and Blooming
By the Blossoming and Blooming Team
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