From Textbooks to Touchpoints

Meet Hana Ali

What happens when a childhood dream of becoming a doctor collides with a harsh reality that fails to align with your values and aspirations?

For Hana Ali, this realisation set her on a transformative journey from the halls of medical school to the dynamic world of social entrepreneurship. Through a series of challenges and achievements, bookmarked with self-reflection, she’s discovered that a fulfilling career can take many forms and that embracing change can lead to unexpected opportunities for growth and impact.

At the time of our interview, Hana was busy getting ready to launch the Health Career Transitions Network, an online community from where she lives in Berlin, Germany. After the popularity of her YouTube content about leaving medicine to pursue impact in other ways in healthcare, she was spurred to create a place where doctors and other health professionals can get resources and support for navigating alternative careers.

However, the work that keeps the lights on at the moment and also aligns with her purpose is her part-time role as a Founders Associate with a social enterprise. Here, she “helps women of colour entrepreneurs across Europe and the UK to grow their businesses and access funding.” It’s more strategy than business operations, geared towards people with limited business experience and access to support.

“I wanted to take a bit of a breather and a bit of a break from founding and running a business. A lot of time, energy and sacrifice goes into it.”  

Given that Hana is about to launch another business, I'm wondering what being a Founder Associate offers her to sustain commitment in the way she does.

People. People can make all the difference. It's not always who you are helping or how; it's who you are doing it with. Second to who you do life with, who you work with can make such a significant difference in our well-being and levels of job satisfaction. It's why many leave their jobs and, like Hana, why you accept one.