Problem Solved: The IISE Podcast

] I had a lot of obstacles that I faced during my journey as an athlete. I started when I was in the ninth grade. I used to take my brother to TaeKwonDo classes and watch him from the side. Then my coach once encouraged me to try. And I agreed just for one session, but actually that day changed everything.
The coach told me that he saw something in me that if I trained hard and stayed consistent, I could become a champion and even earn my black belt in just a month. And I did. I worked really hard and gained my black belt in only one month. Then I joined the national team of Jordan within four months.
Yeah, I trained really hard, but unfortunately I wasn't selected to go to participate in the championship that was held in Russia back then, because they said that I [00:01:00] lack experience. I got, I felt like sad, but it only pushed me more because I want to reach there one day. So later on the next year, I stayed fully committed, kept family gatherings and time with friends to focus in TaeKwonDo.
I competed in my first ever international championship in Fujairah and UAE and I won a medal. I also got qualified again for the national team for the second time, and I then was prepared for the World Championship in Canada. They have sent us for training camps in, in different countries, but unfortunately for the second time, I wasn't selected either because they said I also lacked experience.
It was frustrating because how was I supposed to gain experience if I wasn't given the chance to compete? [00:02:00] That's when I decided to take a break. I it was my final year of school, so I needed to focus on my studies because I'd always dreamed of becoming an industrial engineer, and that required full attention.
After graduating, I entered university to study industrial en industrial engineering and returned to my TaeKwonDo training, and that's when everything changed. Industrial engineering taught me to always look for ways to improve a system, and I started applying that mindset to my athletic journey. I began recording my sessions, analyzing what went well and what didn't, and adjusting my technique just like optimizing a process in engineering.
I won my first national championship in the senior level. The challenges were bigger. But my, but so my passion was I kept [00:03:00] improving quickly and gave it everything I had. I competed in several international championships around the world and I brought medals from each one of them. I started the next year with the 54th place in the world, in my weight category.
This is the hugest, like this is the, most huge achievement I've reached. Eventually later I decided to take a break this time to focus on building my career as an industrial engineer. And that's when I joined the IISE chapter and the University of Jordan and dedicated my energy to it.
And then I graduated and I worked as a business analyst and then now I'm working in the His Majesty King Abdullah II office, which is like the greatest opportunity that I've reached because it's not easy to be in such a place. But I'm really thankful for [00:04:00] industrial engineering and for everything I've been through, because they were the reason I am here today.
And I'm sure that it's gonna open doors for me that I don't know yet, but it's gonna be amazing.