“Maybe Me Too: From Cameroon to the University of California, Berkeley” | Nadine Mbah

There are moments in life when you look around and quietly ask yourself, “How did I get here?”

Today, standing at the University of California, Berkeley, the No. 1 public university in the United States and one of the world’s leading universities, I found myself asking that question.

The answer is a journey.

I come from a place where dreaming big as a girl could sometimes be seen as doing too much, a place where conflict disrupted my education and turned the simple dream of staying in school into a fight worth fighting for.

But I dared to dream anyway.

After graduating from the University of Buea in 2023, I spent the following years volunteering and taking professional internships in journalism and communications. I kept showing up because I understood that I was learning, building, and preparing for a race I could not yet see.

Then came 2025.

One phone call from @Julius Mbah to Martha Lingong led me to the Open Dreams Educational NGO Graduate Summit, where my understanding of scholarships and global opportunities changed forever. For encouraging me to apply, I am deeply grateful to both of you.

I interviewed scholars who had studied at some of the world’s best universities and told their stories. As I listened to them, I remember thinking, “Maybe me too.”Maybe someone from Cameroon. From the Northwest Region. From Kom. Maybe I, could make it too.

Today, I am here. UC Berkeley. Master of Journalism. A Mastercard Foundation Scholar.

I am deeply grateful to the Mastercard Foundation for creating international pathways for young Africans like me to learn, lead, and make an impact.

To my mom, my biggest fan and greatest source of strength, everything I am becoming carries a piece of your belief in me.

To Pechuqui Laurata, thank you for wholeheartedly supporting, guiding, and encouraging me through my application journey.

Thank you to everyone of you who has contributed directly and indirectly to my journey.

My dream is to become the kind of journalist who does not simply tell stories, but makes it harder for the world to ignore them.

And if there is one thing I want you to take from my story, it is this: Do not allow the size of your beginnings to determine the size of your dreams. Keep preparing, even when nobody can yet see what you are preparing for.

Because sometimes, the work you do quietly for years becomes the foundation for the moment everyone finally sees.

If I can dream beyond what was expected of me, maybe you can too.

The journey has just begun.

Nadine Mbah | Award-Winning Journalist | Strategic Communications Specialist| Yali Alumna | Ubuntu Leader | Team Lead: Empower Her | Mastercard Foundation Scholar - UC Berkeley