Mona Abouzied, originally from Alexandria, Egypt, earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University.

She left Egypt to Canada in her early twenties, right after graduation, where she completed her master’s studies at the University of Ottawa in Canada.

She later moved to the United States with her late husband, and has been in the USA for almost 35 years.

Her 25-year career with Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington, began as a software engineer in the International Windows Division. She was later promoted to senior project manager and product planner, leading engagement efforts with the Microsoft development community to build top software applications for the Windows platform.

1- Can you share a bit about your journey from Egypt to the USA?

A: Moving to Canada, then to the States was challenging, but very educational. North American society is focused on work ethics, personal freedom, and being fully independent. I had to learn and adjust to the new culture, while making heroic efforts, to maintain the solid Egyptian traditions of family closeness, moderate religious orientation, and being proud of my arabic heritage. In the process, I learned a lot about my ow strength, and ability to learn new skills, my main motivation was my desire to succeed and be a great ambassador for my beloved country, and a good example for my two boys

2. What aspects of Egyptian culture do you maintain or celebrate while living in the USA?

A: Family closeness, Strong friendships, the amazing egyptian food, and being proud to be egyptian from a country with rich histroy. I always get asked about my heritage, when I mention that I was born in Egypt, I alwayss get a response, “Oh, I always dream of visiting Egypt.”

I watch Egyptian television.

I follow the news about Egypt, actually as much as I follow the local news here in USA.

I also prepare Egyptian food on special occasions. Both my boys like some of the traditional Egyptian dishes like grilled Kebab. And we celebrate religious holidays, of course.

3- Do you often visit Egypt? Do your family members from Egypt come to visit?

A: Based on work schedule I try to visit Egypr every one or two years, my two boys used to enjoy may parents visiting us here, and being spoiled by grandparents

4- What accomplishments or successes are you most proud of since moving to the USA?

A: When I joined Microsoft, I was the first Egyptian and Arabic woman to join the company, I worked hard to succeed professionally, but also to ensure that I represent Egyptian women in a very positive way. In addition to my work related responsibilities, I made myself available to mentor ne3w female grads joining the company to empower them and share my experiencee with them. I am happy to see that we were successful, and see more and more egyptian female engineers joining the company and gaining great professional reputation in the Hi-Tech industry worldwide.

5- How important is it for new immigrants to integrate into the society? From your experience, how can they accomplish that.

A: North america is an open society, you can choose to live a very conservative life or be very open to all social aspects of the society and follow a fully westernized life style. To succeed personally and professionally, you have to develop your own approach to fit into the culture without losing your identity, and selective traditions from your early life in Egypt. Maintaining connection with the family in Egypt, trips to Egypt or inviting my parents to visit us in US, all were very helpful to keep my boys exposure to their Egyptian heritage

6- What advice would you give to other Egyptian women who are considering moving to or are currently living in the USA?

A: Anyone planning to move to the states, should work to strengthen their language and also gain a reasonable level of knowledge about life in USA and how the laws are intertwined with day to day life. Work ethics and personal freedom is essential here, women have greater responsibilities here since they will be on their own, no extended family to help with children. More efforts are needed to help children adjust and maintain good traditions from Egyptian culture, while adjusting to living in North America.