Half German, half South African. Sabrina’s nationality belongs to the Germany of the philosophers, poets and musicians. Her birth, childhood and adolescence are based in Cape Town.

She remembers the mornings there. Waking up in her parents house, looking out of the windows and contemplating the beautiful views of Cape Town, bathed by the Atlantic Ocean. At night, as Kurt Darren would sing, “dis hemel op Tafelberg”, and Sabrina enjoyed looking at the stars, which were over the flat top of Table Mountain.

Her family still lives there and she misses them quite a lot. She also misses South African cuisine and the general lifestyle. Unlike Europe, in South Africa everything takes place outdoors. And she says it from the experience because, with her 23 years old, Sabrina has lived in a bunch of different countries.

After studying a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology in South Africa, she moved to Paris to study a Master of Science in Management of Technology – Information Systems. Frankfurt, Cologne, the small Saint-Genis-Pouilly… Sabrina lives now in Geneva and she works at CERN as a project control analyst on the HiLumi Project.

She started working at CERN not even a year ago, in September 2019. Being at CERN was a dream that she wanted to achieve since she was very very young. She loves the learning environment that CERN gives. To Sabrina, it is a place where new people with fresh ideas are constantly coming, people who are passionate about their achievements. Every day at CERN means a new adventure.

Sabrina is quite a dreamer. Lots of goals surround her. If she thinks about her future, she sees herself working kind of an interface between technical and business worlds. She very much enjoys the technical engineering side of things, but also business, and learning and understanding how and why everything fits together.

She could see herself mixing both one day with the aim of contributing to Humanity, because as the South African human rights and anti-racism activist, Nelson Mandela, said once: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead”. To Sabrina, it is also very important to make a positive contribution to other people’s lives.

She agrees with Nadine Gordimer, the South African writer and political activist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991. “A truly living human being cannot remain neutral”. She feels like, if you remain neutral, you are accepting all of the injustices in the world. It is when you have an opinion, and when you feel passionate about something, when you initiate a change towards a better future.

Sabrina feels like she is still growing and learning every single day. She likes to imagine herself opening a company for contributing to Humanity in some form. Mandela said that “everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do”.

And, for sure, Sabrina will do.

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