Microbiologist Mohamed El Hadidi shares his inspiring journey of perseverance through countless rejections. He opens about the struggles he faced on his path to becoming the Director of the Genome Research Center, including the challenges of learning foreign languages. Despite being mocked for his language skills, he remained determined, always telling himself, "One day, you will all see what I become." His story is a powerful reminder that resilience and self-belief can turn obstacles into achievements. Dr. Mohamed Elhadidy is currently a professor of Biomedical Sciences, director of Center for Genomics (CG) and Vice Director of Teaching Effectiveness Office (TEO) at Zewail City of science and technology, at Zewail City of science and technology, Egypt. Dr. Elhadidy holds a DVM degree from Mansoura University in Egypt. He obtained his master’s degree in 2006 in Microbiology from Mansoura University and obtained his PhD (2010) in Microbiology from Virginia Tech University, USA. From 2011-2017, Dr. Elhadidy served as a research scientist at School of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canada; University of Bristol, UK; and University of Gent and Scientific Institute of Public health in Belgium. In 2018, he also served as a visiting professor at University of Bath, UK.Dr. Elhadidy research program aims to develop a better understanding of the pathogenesis, ecology, evolutional dynamics, and transmission of bacterial foodborne and zoonotic diseases through the implementation of different population genetics and comparative genomic studies of these bacterial pathogens. His most recent research activities implemented high throughput sequencing technologies and genomic epidemiology tools to gain crucial insights into genetic determinants that play a role in virulence potential, antimicrobial resistance and transmission of different zoonotic bacterial pathogens to human including food-borne pathogens. Dr. Elhadidy research on the understanding the biology of foodborne and zoonotic pathogens is interdisciplinary and involves the application of a variety of disciplines (including microbiology and microbial genomics, population genetics, molecular biology, genomics, evolution, nano-drug delivery systems, and bioinformatics)Dr. Elhadidy, a former member of the National Microbiology Council, EYAS, and National Academy of Sciences, aims to develop faculty in the MENA region and Egypt who can teach responsible science using active learning techniques. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx