Beyond Borders: A Nafisa's Journey Through Tech and Neuroscience

You know that moment when you can quote every line from a movie but can't remember what you studied for tomorrow's exam? That exact frustration sparked Nafisa Bashar Anmul's journey into the fascinating intersection of neuroscience and computer science.

But this conversation goes way deeper than academic achievements. We're talking about standing at immigration gates thinking you're ready for anything, then needing a friend to walk you back to your dorm because navigating a new country at midnight hits different than expected.

What we dive into:

• Why breakthrough research takes forever to reach people who need it (and how she's changing that)
• Building interactive hallway installations that help students decompress
• The person who told her she'd never make it to university—and how that became fuel
• Being an only child studying thousands of miles from home
• Her favorite ayah that keeps her grounded when everything feels overwhelming

Nafisa's reminder that stuck with me: "Don't give up—but know WHY you're not giving up. Find that reason and stick to it."

She's living proof that you can master the technical stuff without losing sight of why you're doing it—to help people, to bridge gaps, to make technology accessible for researchers back home who are still working with outdated tools.

This one's for us daughters our parents believed in before we had proof. For anyone building something meaningful while carrying the weight of representation.

Connect with Nafisa: LinkedIn & Instagram: Nafisa Bashar Anmul

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:35 Meet Nafisa: A Journey in Tech and Research

01:15 Desert Island Picks: Nafisa's Essentials

02:30 The Love for Reading: Pandemic Stories

04:20 Exploring E-Devices for Reading

07:07 Nafisa's Passion for Neuroscience and Tech

10:44 Research and Project Management Experience

19:13 Transition to Life in a New Country

24:24 Experiencing the First Snow

25:10 Challenges of Snowy Weather

28:39 Adapting to a New Culture

32:06 Seeking Help and Trusting Others

37:28 Overcoming Doubts and Proving Yourself

41:07 Advice for Future Generations

45:09 Reflecting on Parental Support

47:03 Favorite Quranic Verse and Conclusion

Take Break ! Stretch and whatnot and check out our Qahwa Collective !! 

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro: Memory Puzzles & Neural Technology
• 8:35 Nafisa's Reading Journey & Research Work
• 17:40 Exploring Undergraduate Research Opportunities
• 24:39 Leaving Home: Immigration & Adaptation
• 34:37 Learning to Navigate American Culture
• 40:09 Trust, Mentorship & Finding Your People
• 46:33 Don't Give Up: Finding Your Why

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

A quiet classroom, the soft scratch of pens against paper, the faint clicking of a professor's PowerPoint slide. You're staring at the page in front of you, your eyes are scanning over notes you swore you'd remember, but it's gone, vanished, and yet you remember every scene from a random movie you literally watched three years ago. For nefisa, this wasn't just an annoying quirk, it was a puzzle, one that set off a chain reaction, one that would take her from studying the human brain to building the technology that could change the way we understand it. Salaam everyone, and welcome to Muslimism Motion Professional Pursuits.

Speaker 1: 0:58

I'm Hawa, your host, and here we celebrate the achievements of Muslim women while exploring strategies to balance the life you dream of with the life you're living today. Join me as we dive deep into the inspiring journey of Nafisa Anmul, a software engineer, fellow, a student, a researcher and innovator shaping the future of tech. Her story is more than just research and coding. It's about resilience, about navigating spaces that weren't always built for her, and about bridging the gap between neuroscience and technology in ways most people never consider. But first I have a question for her. We're on a deserted island and you can only bring three things.

Speaker 1: 1:43

So, what are the things that you are bringing?

Speaker 2: 1:47

The three things I want to bring, I think the first thing that just came to my mind will be Quran. I feel like, because it's such an essential thing for everything, I feel like I'm having a conversation or getting so much advice from it, and then it can be like a picture of my family and a book which is a cognitive neuroscience related book. I'm not pretty sure how to say that name, but the book is basically what neuroscience problems we still can't solve and which can be solved by technology, so it's like a whole combination.

Speaker 1: 2:37

Okay, wow, that's actually really amazing choices, mashallah. So I see that two of the things that you've chosen are books, so I can assume that you love to read, right?

Speaker 2: 2:49

yes, that's nice, that's amazing, it's like funny story because in pandemic, when everything was closed and as a single child and everything, I have very restricted screen time and everything, which I am thankful for. My mother and my father have a huge book collection which are stories and everything. So I have finished everything in two months and my father was. I was telling my father to buy me books and my father was like why there are so many books in the house, just read those. I was like I have finished everything. And my father okay, then I can help you buy some more books oh man, mashallah.

Speaker 1: 3:32

So while everybody else was binging on these tv shows, you were literally out here just finishing your whole library books mashallah that's amazing oh, I love that, love that.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Oh, that's so great. I remember like being younger, my dad would always like every week he would go to the library and get me books, like a different rotation of books, like he would. He would get bring me books. I'd finish the books in a week or two and then like give them back and be like here more books please. So I get it. That's what it makes me think of and it just brings me back to honestly. I need to prioritize reading a lot more because, I don't know, I don't prioritize it as much as I should. I'm just be honest.

Speaker 2: 4:12

But yeah, that's an amazing thing it's the same for me now, even like a lot of screen time now, because the computer is still a science student. I'm looking at the screen and even if I'm taking a break I'm looking at the screen. So it's like cutting off the point of reading the book and then doing it.

Speaker 1: 4:33

You are now a project manager at the school that you're at now, as well as like an undergraduate research assistant, so do you want to tell me about that experience?

Speaker 2: 4:47

Yeah, so the project manager is the like sort of the research work or the interactability project I'm doing in my. The job is basically I'm making sort of interactability project where a student who's passing by the hallway can take a break and like maybe make a geometric pattern by using the hand detections only, which detect just the fingertips, and maybe like there are other people working on this kind of project like maybe removing the foggy filter out of the picture, doing the foggy effect and maybe removing the dandelion stuff from the dandelion so that it's like it gives a like breezing effect from the dandelion. So this kind of work I am doing in so that, like in the display or the campus display, uh hallway looks cooler, looking as a hallway interesting, okay, cool.

Speaker 1: 5:59

So what kind of made you choose that particular? Or like, how does the whole like undergrad research thing work? I kind of always wonder is it like when you're there, you kind of see somebody working on a research topic and you're like, oh cool, that sounds cool, I would like to join, or you know, I just never understood how that worked how that works.

Speaker 2: 6:34

So, for me especially, I was exploring research options from my freshman year because I was basically interested in research while I was a neuroscience student. So there was a talk happening where the professor I'm working with right now, mara Breen, was giving a lecture of attention and how the attention works for a particular person. So I was like, hey, that's very interesting. And she also works in linguistics, which is like, as an international student, like the native language I speak, bangla is different than English and so there is like different type of synonyms, which which interact with each other.

Speaker 2: 7:14

So that's why, like, that part was interesting for me, that's why I joined her research and that's how, like, I explored that, like I want to do that research and especially, especially, the bug that created. That's why the movie I am still remembering, but the study that I want to remember is not remembering what's the reason behind it, why my brain is doing this. So that's how I, like I literally told my professor that that's the reason I want to work with you, I want to know this, why this happening, and the linguistic part of it. So that's how I got to work with her and I explored many more options I explored in the chemistry department, also in the biology department, about the genetics works and everything. I joined the lab meetings of the research lab that I was interested in and I was like, yeah, maybe I'm interested in this or maybe I'm not interested in this. So that's how I got to choose the lab I'm working right now.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Oh cool, oh okay, that makes sense. So it's like, do you ever get to like switch, or is that kind of like not really something?

Speaker 2: 8:33

that's recommended. I can switch, so it's. It depends on like because, like for Mount Holy, it's a very liberal college and we get to choose and explore. It was even an option for me in my research in my lab that I joined.

Speaker 2: 8:55

One day I was like hi, professor, I don't want to, I don't think I can give time in the lab because that's a a lot of lab work, data collection, data and it's like I don't know if I can do the work because I on that time I was taking organic chemistry and at that lab was three, four hours and then I was like I think I will, I want to give the whole time to organic chemistry because that's such a rigorous subject. And, alhamdulillah, I did well and I had fun studying organic chemistry. But that was like I told her and then she was like, oh yeah, it's completely fine, you don't have to join right now. I was like, please understand, it's just because of organic chemistry, it's nothing that I'm not interested in the lab, it's just that I want to focus. I think that I can't be a good contribution person in the lab.

Speaker 2: 9:53

If I do that. It would be a but like bad impression of me to you because I don't like as I was like she was the like what can I say? Like idol, idol of what I want to work in, and I was like I don't want to like disappoint you. So this is the circumstances I'm going on, please understand. So that's how like. That's like the like reality example I have that I can have the liberty to choose or do other things and also, at the same time, can come back and work with that professor again.

Speaker 1: 10:34

And I like that. I actually respect, because a lot of times people just kind of overcommit to stuff and I'm guilty of this too and you want to try to like balance it all and do it all. But I really liked how you're able to kind of regroup and be like you know what actually I can't.

Speaker 1: 10:49

But it's not a not ever, it's just a not now. I need to prioritize what I have now and then kind of tackle this thing that I really want to participate in, even though it is hard but it's worth it, because you were able to again, mashallah to do really well in that class and then also do really well in your research. So do you ever see yourself doing research, like for a long time?

Speaker 2: 11:16

Because I know for computer science.

Speaker 1: 11:18

Things are very flexible, right, you can do kind of whatever you choose. But do you enjoy academia? Do you enjoy research?

Speaker 2: 11:25

Yes, I don't know if I enjoy it. I mean, what work I do, that's out of my interest, that's out of my curiosity, basically, rather than interest. So that's how I want to explore that, because I didn't have that option before. How I like the industry, but so far now I am liking academia, I am liking research and it's the curiosity that you are researching something that, like normal students or normal CS students who are not reading research papers or who are not doing research work, are not familiar with it, they're just familiar with the recent technological development that's happening want to work in research academia because it's like I get to know stuff or I get to know in more deep that I can do this or this can be solved in that way. So that curiosity or that like thing that I know something like better than some other people it's not that it's like that the curiosity level in my case can, I think is higher than some people and that's where how I want to do the research all right.

Speaker 1: 14:31

So you mentioned that you're actually from Bangladesh and now you go to school here. So I wanted to talk about your journey, basically like what that was like for you, basically having to pack up and leave your home to come here and pursue this curiosity, this passion, this career that you've chosen to pursue. So could you start off and tell me a little bit about that and how it was like for you?

Speaker 2: 15:05

yes, sure. So I am basically like only child, so, and I can be like. Everyone tells me that my father treat me as a princess. I mean, every father treat their daughter as their princess and um and uh, that's the like. I didn't think that I will miss my home or my father that much when I was going alone, because from the very young childhood I am used to living alone as a only child. So was like, how worse can you get?

Speaker 1: 16:11

standing at the immigration gate. Nafisa wasn't thinking about neuroscience or even computer science. She was thinking about her father.

Speaker 2: 16:30

So I still remember I was in front of that immigration gate from where my father was like after this, I cannot go with you. But I was still thinking, oh, my father can go with me, it's fine, it's reasonable. So my father was like I cannot go with you, let fine, it's, it's reasonable. So my father was like I cannot go with you, let's just spend some more time. Then I was like no, no, no, the flight can get missed and I can miss the flight. It's such a long flight, I don't want to get missed. But we still talked a bit and then my father was like yeah, I think you should go that part.

Speaker 2: 17:00

I never realized that I could have spent more time with my father and I could have told him a lot more. But I was like hey, it's fine, I'm going to another country, another language, another whole education system, where I'm going to study, where I'm going to explore new things. So that was not a hard part crossing the country, coming here. But when, after I arrived on campus, I realized at that moment how much I was missing my father, my home country and everything the food, of course, I cannot miss the food, and it was very like that time I realized that it was hard. I knew that it will get harder because I am alone, all alone here. But I thought that, yeah, I think it will be manageable, but I never thought how much circumstances I have to. Yeah, I think it will be manageable, but I never thought how much circumstances I have to go through, how much obligations barrier I need to pass to be allowed to go through that phase.

Speaker 1: 18:36

But as soon as she arrived on campus, reality set in the silence of a dorm room that wasn't home, the weight of expectations not just from her family but from herself.

Speaker 2: 18:50

So the freshman year I was even afraid of crossing roads and at 12 am, like coming to my dorm because in my country I'm not used to be late, up late that much I had a friend who was like I was so scared. My friend took me from library to or like another dorm where we study, from that dorm to my dorm. Because I was so scared at like night and I was like, if there's nobody, please come with me at like night. And I was like, if there's nobody, please come with me. So for an entire month she, she literally helped me from one place to another as a parent to a child to. That was an experience and I still tell my father how much I miss him, how much I realized that and I feel like for me what helped talking with my father every day and praying and reading Quran because whenever I feel bad I try to read Quran and like normally talk to Allah and it helped a lot because it really helped for my mental health to overcome and my father's advice, or whatever my father said to help me to adjust in this country.

Speaker 2: 20:14

My father thought I wouldn't like survive freshman first semester. So my father still used to call me and he used to say that, hey, you have your exam, school exam, high school exam next day. You should wake up and study. I actually woke up and I was like, oh, yeah, I need to study to get ready for that final exam of high school. But then I was like, oh wait, it's snowing outside. In my country there doesn't snow and all. So that was that kind of funny part and that kind of advice helped me to come here the first snow when it happened. So whenever the first snow happened I don't know what I always study during that time happened, I don't know what I always study during that time and I don't see the snow falling, but I, during that time I was studying. I'm like, oh, it was snowing, it's nice, so I didn't want outside. I was like, yeah, it's beautiful, okay, fine, let's get back to study. And I was like, oh, first snow, first day, so beautiful. I took pictures and I sent to my father.

Speaker 2: 21:45

But then after that day I realized how hard it is, or to walk when you, when the snow gets very, very much thick. And I still remember that I was. I was realizing buying good snow boot, buying great stuff and like great jacket and I was like oh, it's freezing, I need to have something. So that feeling like the first feeling, the first snow feeling, I feel like is always good.

Speaker 2: 22:16

But then when it comes to walk, it's very hard. And this like place I live and the dorm I live it's a very uphill area. So I like sometimes I thankfully to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, I haven't slept yet, but there is still some case that I feel like I might sleep because of the thick snow and the narrow roads, but it's still nice to see snow. But then realizing I have to walk, and if I stay up late in a library studying, it gets harder at night, and I'm like, yeah, I just like pray, I literally pray that, unless one of them, please don't make me crazy on the road. And then I ran to my dorm Not ground, but fast walk.

Speaker 1: 23:10

Yeah, as fast as you can without slipping. Yeah, no, that's. It's a lot Like we don't get a lot of snow down here, but, like when we do, it's not nearly as much as it is in north like the snow.

Speaker 1: 23:25

I kind of wish we would have like one good one, though, because there was an occasion a couple years ago long story short, we were not prepared for the snow, like infrastructurally, you know, atlanta was not ready. So a lot of terrible things like people who got stuck in the road because they don't have proper snow tires, and people freezing because, like they literally were stuck in their cars. It was a lot. So it's like I want to get more snow, but it's like be careful what you wish for, because sometimes, wherever you're at, everything would just shut down and become berserk.

Speaker 2: 24:02

But yeah, no, I can relate with you because the place I live in, south Hadley, massachusetts, it's not snowing that much, but I went to Buffalo, new York, it snowed. My flight got delayed two days and I had a very horrible experience. But we used to have snow days in South Hadley and during that there was class off and everything else. I really wish for that day. I know it's a bad wish, but it's a day of class off. I can do my work. I can do my work, I can do more work Exactly.

Speaker 2: 24:41

Sometimes you just need a break, yeah, like taking a break. Then I was like, okay, maybe it's like I am here like till three years I haven't gotten a snow day yet. It was before. Then I was like, maybe it's me, maybe that's why the snow day is never happening.

Speaker 1: 25:00

But yeah, you never know. You honestly never know. Sometimes that can even be a protection, because some snow days it's like the black eyes just gets kind of crazy. So you talked about like your journey here, you talked about like your first snow year. What are some things you wish you knew before you came here.

Speaker 2: 25:25

I mean I wish I knew that I needed to be mentally stronger, because I think that's the like biggest thing that mentally stronger because I knew that my parents won't be here and I knew I have to do a lot of work by myself.

Speaker 2: 25:47

And I mean I used to do a lot of work by myself when I was in Bangladesh because as an only child, but it was more like academic help and everything fitting into this unknown culture that I have never been in. So I feel like preparing myself for that like mentally stronger part I would like emphasize more and more because whenever, like at least whoever I saw, people think that coming here is the big release or the big success, but it never is. It's like more barrier, more like obstacles, more walls in front of you and you need to break it through and tell people that I made it and in that state you're like you're still not able to meet it more. So that's like for me. I will like, I think I want to emphasize more and more that mentally stronger. If you are mentally stronger, as much as you can come to another unknown place and will be like settled as is as not hard as possible that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 27:08

So you basically underestimated yeah because something you said actually it was really interesting to me. It's like you said, like when people think you're here and then that's it, and yeah, people don't realize that getting here is literally not half the battle, if not half, maybe a quarter. The rest is just like literally surviving, trying to adapt to a new culture, a new, and talking with actual people. There's slang, there's all these euphemisms, there's all these different. You know what is it? What is the word Literary devices? I guess People use to just speak every day. So it is difficult. It is for a couple of reasons that you mentioned Everybody thinking like, oh, you've made it. So you know, I guess that's it for you. You can't possibly kind of be working that hard. I think it can get a little frustrating and also a little exhausting for you because it feels like you know, there's a lot of pressure and things like that. Have you had an experience with that?

Speaker 2: 28:15

Yeah, I mean a lot of pressure in a way that I'm I mean academically. I've been into bigger pressure in my country, but it was more of a like competition of I know how I can do better, but in here it's more like I don't know how I can do better. I need to ask for help. And asking for help is a big thing, I feel like, because when I came here I didn't know that, oh, I can ask for help, I can tell my professor that I'm having problem with this and professor will help me or the peers will help me. So, coming to realization for that and coming to the realization of knowing the right person to ask for help, because I felt like even if I asked for help, there were some people who didn't give me the advice that I actually needed and the people who actually like just a single word was helpful. That's the like difference between the right person and the wrong person when you ask for help, and I think that's the like main thing I got.

Speaker 1: 29:35

I like that. So with your mistakes. So, no, sorry, excuse me. So what is a mistake or failure in your journey that you've done so far? That taught you a lesson that you still carry with you today?

Speaker 2: 29:55

and before you answer this, I'm gonna actually grab something real quick, but you can go ahead and answer sure I think the biggest mistake that I got, or like I realized that the same that trusting the right person for help and not the person and knowing the right person that you can trust on is one thing and you can trust your professor that I trust my the professor I research with very much and I share almost as much as I think that problems I am doing that I can ask her for help I share with her.

Speaker 2: 31:02

She is not a computer science person. She works, she does coding and stuff, but she is not from computer science person. She works, she does coding and stuff, but she does. She is not, she's not from computer science world. So I I told I tell her about the industry, about the stuff that I am going through and about like how I am now interested still in research. So it's it's that the right person emphasizing that the right person is there for you that you can trust and you can ask for help I like that and I'm glad you're able to find somebody, but there was.

Speaker 1: 31:38

Was there ever a time where that was not the case, like, was there a time that there was somebody that you thought you could trust and you couldn't? And do you feel comfortable, I guess, sharing that?

Speaker 2: 31:51

Well, yeah, I mean there was time that there was many times, from my very beginning of the childhood till now, that I have thought that the person can be helpful, that the person can be trustworthy, but at the end it wasn't the case that the person can be trustworthy but at the end it wasn't the case, and I mean at that time it was very hard to know and hard to like like you don't know. It's like you need to have also the wrong person to know that what your right person is. So there was time and during that time I basically share almost everything with my father because we were so close. So I was sharing with my father and my father was giving me advice. My father was telling us help from Allah, ask help, that he will help you with mental health and everything. And tell Allah everything.

Speaker 2: 32:49

And because also, my father was like like because I'm not there, allah is there for you, ask help, that's thing. That's the way I got to recover. But also like the wrong person was there and I got to experience it. It wasn't a like great experience, it was like horrible experience, but I think I'm glad that I had that experience. So next time at least it was sooner that it got revealed, then that's how I'm not like in a long process of not knowing that the person is not trustworthy or not the right person to advice from Do you feel like comfortable sharing that experience?

Speaker 1: 33:32

It's okay if you don't. I am comfortable sharing the experience, but it's like there are so many incidents yeah, I mean one that is directly relevant to like you coming here and like a time where maybe you came here, you kind of realized, kind of felt like, oh, you know, I could trust this person. You know, I'm new, I don't really understand like what's going on, and then that wasn't the case.

Speaker 2: 34:01

After coming here I think, even maybe mentally, it's suppressed in my memory because I had good people also that helped me. But before coming here, when I was going through the whole US university admission journey, there was a person that told me that I cannot get into any universities or anything because I don't have a lot of extracurricular activities or any good Olympiad like math Olympiad or biology Olympiad backgrounds. And it was very hard for me to know that and because in my country academia is everything, extracurricular activities are like plus point if you have times. So it was very hard when that person told me that and that time I realized that he, he is not the right person that I am asking help from or like looking up to. So that was hard for me to know. And I mean, after he told me that it was like, oh, maybe I am not.

Speaker 2: 35:14

But then there was a determination that I need to show that person that I can get into universities, I can do good work and I can get scholarships. It's also like you can get into universities but it's also you have to have scholarships or grant to like be here because I do financial stuff. So yeah, I mean I wasn't. I'm studying computer science and neuroscience here. But I made my portfolio my, my portfolio, my background in architecture to apply here. I have a passion for that also. It's a passion, it's a hobby, but I was like I can make something out of it. So I made a whole architecture portfolio to apply to universities here and it was helpful and people were shocked but it was good to see that I can prove that I am capable enough.

Speaker 1: 36:16

Yeah, I always. There's a saying that I learned that goes along the lines of don't ever ask for advice or opinions from people who you would never trade places with. And yeah, it applies because a lot of times people are speaking from a place of like ignorance or just envy and you know, may Allah protect us from evil and all that stuff but like, yeah, a lot of times people are just haters. So now they're saying, oh, and they're kind of like fighting things within themselves. So now they're like, oh well, how can she make it? Because I have X, y, z and I couldn't even make it. So how can she do it? And honestly, that's very annoying and I'm sorry that happened.

Speaker 1: 36:56

But Alhamdulillah, you're here now and I'm so glad that you didn't allow those nonsense person or people to kind of ruin your, your spirit and your motivation. And so, for anybody who might be going through something similar or maybe just dealing with dissenting voices when it comes to pursuing something as big as this, I think it's a really huge deal. By the way, when you've decided, hey, I'm just going to leave my home country to come here and go to school and change my situation or maybe not even just my situation, but my family situation. I think that's worthy of much respect, mashallah. Not a lot of people are brave enough to do something like that, so it's an amazing thing you've done so. With that being said, what is some advice or some things you would tell somebody maybe in your shoes, or maybe even yourself, five years ago? What? What would you tell somebody who like what would you ask them to look out for, or watch out for in that case?

Speaker 2: 37:55

I mean, I think it's me still, because the whole interview or the industry journey is very hard for me now and I want to go back to my dad stuff and I like I want to tell that not to give up. But it's hard to know, it's hard to like. Yeah, people can say that don't give up, but how or why? That's not always the case, so don't give up. But it's also like why you should not give up. Why do you think you you are the person that you are thinking that giving up is not worthy.

Speaker 2: 38:36

I feel like there should be a like determination again that you need to do something for yourself. You need I. It's even fine that you are a version of yourself. Still, the time is passing, you are a better version of yourself. Like trying to make yourself a better version and also like telling that I want to do this because of this reason, because maybe I want to be successful in that area. Maybe I want to tell people that, hey, this is the reason and maybe I want to be successful in that area. Maybe I want to tell people that, hey, this is the reason and maybe I want to help people, like for me, why is the?

Speaker 2: 39:14

Neuroscience? And computer science is interesting is like I want to help people in my country also to be accessible to the technology and also to the health, to be accessible to the technology and also to the health. So I feel like that's the, that's something that why not to give up is also a thing. Don't give up. And why don't? Why you don't want to give up? Find that reason and stick to it and maybe at like, maybe after getting successful in that reason, you will find another reason and you want to say that don't give up. Then try to find that new reason not to give up.

Speaker 1: 39:56

Yeah, I like that because it's not just about the what you're doing, but your why is so important. Because the what can be anything right, but the why is what keeps us going and keeps us pushing, even when we don't feel like doing it, Even when we're tired, Even when we just feel like you know what's the point. Maybe you feel like, oh, this isn't for me. If you're just so focused on, like, the result, then, yeah, it's a lot easier to just like throw in a towel. But you have to remember, like, why are you doing this? Who are you doing this for? What is the purpose behind everything?

Speaker 1: 40:33

You know and at the root of it, even if you're not doing it for yourself or for a person you're maybe you're doing it for Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Speaker 1: 40:37

Right, At the end of the day, we're all striving towards something and we want to leave an impact on this dunya right, this life is not permanent, so we want to leave an impact, something that people will help people, something that will contribute to our communities, which what you're doing, by the way, is very admirable, mashallah. May Allah make it easy for you to complete your goals. So, yeah, like the why is the biggest thing. It doesn't matter if I can say anything. It's like okay, you can do whatever you want, but it's the why that's going to keep you going on those late nights where you're regretting everything and asking yourself why did I even choose this path, why did I choose this major, why did I choose this job? You know what I mean and I think that's a beautiful thing, mashallah. So, with that being said, speaking of leaving impact, if you could leave one lasting legacy in your field, whether through innovation, mentoring, advocacy, your research, what would it be?

Speaker 2: 41:42

I think my journey and also I want to leave how, what my parents has done for me, that journey, and like the research or the path I will be in, no without Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, no one knows wherever I'm leaving that impact. I want to tell people the behind story of it, or the backstage work of it, because it's not just me, it's also Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's help, rahmat, and it's also my parents have worked very hard to get me here.

Speaker 2: 42:29

So that's what, like, I want to tell people that, like, we all go through maybe not all, but I went to the rebellious phase of not listening to everything that my parents said to me, but then, as I'm getting older, thoseices really helped oh I really I'm really thankful for that advices and from like those strict rules that I have been opposed to and I feel like those I want to like leave behind that you are doing what you are doing but there is like a person or parents that has done something for you to come here this is true.

Speaker 1: 43:15

You gotta remember, like, what was it all for? Who did it? Like who helped us along the way? And for a lot of us, that is our parents, and may Allah have mercy on them and protect them. That that's amazing. So, before we close off, I always like to ask one last question. Or, just as the last question which I'd like to ask what is your favorite ayah from the Quran and how does it inspire or influence your approach to your?

Speaker 2: 43:43

you know, your career, your school, your research or your lives approach to your, you know, your career, your school, your research or your lives. I, um, there are like so many I mean I won't say like, but there are, like always, uh, different ayahs that help me in different times. But, uh, I feel like that one ayah from Surah Baqarah that I really like, which is, like Allah doesn't pardon a soul beyond that it can bear, and I read it a lot of times that maybe that's why it's nothing. Allah knows the best and Allah is doing. Whatever it's doing is for my best.

Speaker 1: 44:31

That's amazing. This was an amazing interview. Thank you so much for your time. Honestly, where can we find you or support you?

Speaker 2: 44:45

find you or support you. So I have my LinkedIn, which is Nafisa Basharanmuth, and I am also active not that active, but active in Instagram, where I show my creative journey and not just my computer science journey or my research journey. It's like there is another beyond Nafisa there. And that's what I want to tell people.

Speaker 1: 45:12

That's amazing. Do you mind saying what it is?

Speaker 2: 45:15

Oh, sorry, that's also Nafisa Basharan. It's my name and I don't have any creativity to put another name or something.

Speaker 1: 45:24

No worries, it's me.

Speaker 2: 45:26

It's me. I want to represent my name nothing better than that.

Speaker 1: 45:32

Honestly but, yeah, honestly, thank you so much. You had an amazing. You had such amazing answers, such an amazing aura and, honestly, I have just so much respect for you. Pray that Allah makes your journey easy and just gives you the success in this life and the next, because your intentions and what you intend to do are amazing and I pray Allah makes it easy for you.

Speaker 2: 45:58

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 46:00

No worries.