Zaid Abouqamar

I consider myself an adventurer inspired by humanity's next exploration frontier: space. Along with my family name that translates to "Mr. Moon," it inspired my ambitions, propelled my professional career path, and landed me my current job role, allowing me to travel the world!

However, I'm known for my previous career in media or my inclining passion toward entrepreneurship. This is due to my journey that began in the barren desert of Qatar – a desert as habitable and resourceful as Mars. No, we did not have a camel nor live in a tent, but it does feel as hot as the surface of the sun (132°F in the shade). Back then, my family arrived as refugees to Qatar and our status prevented us from traveling in the summers. Instead, my summers had to be focused to lift off my career. I got a moonshot (Amiri scholarship) to join Al Jazeera Channel training. Photography, 3D modeling, video editing, and TV direction were not relevant to an astronaut's resume, yet it helped me excel in engineering later on at Texas A&M University (BSc) and University of Manchester (MSc).

After graduating, I earned a job that enabled my family to travel. And although social pressure was pushing me to get married and settle down, the gravity of education pulled me stronger to continue following the course of my dreams. I used my tickets to attends more courses internationally at Boeing (Seattle), Airbus (Toulouse), MIT (Rio de Janeiro), Singularity University (San Francisco), and more (Doha, Miami, Grenada). I learned how defining, liberating, and empowering education is, so I launched my own Google-like local course search engine as an initiative to give back to my home.