By Osahon Ibizugbe

Against all odds, Christine Izuakor earned the right to be called Dr. Izuakor on December 16, 2016.

According to reports, she graduated with a PhD in Security Engineering and became the youngest and first ever African American at her university to achieve that feat! In the same year, she became the vice president and co-founder of Gen Trend at United Airlines.

Christine’s articles have been published in numerous international journals, and  she has traveled to 19 cities across 10 countries – all the while working a full-time job on the cyber security team of a Fortune 500 company, in which she recently received a promotion. She described her achievement with the caption:

I started my PhD program at age 23 and at the time was told I was too young, too naive and too inexperienced to contribute anything to my industry. But, I stood by my dream and turned doubt into motivation. To anyone who has been taught that it’s unrealistic to dream, I assure you that it’s indeed okay to dream big. With hard work and dedication, we can defy all odds and shatter ceilings. Dare to dream, and be brave enough to execute.”