MIB Alumni Spotlight: Maha Amer
Maha Amer completed her Master of International Business in 2022. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in epidemiology at the University of Florida. Originally from Cairo, Egypt, the former Olympian shares why she joined the MIB program and how she hoped to incorporate her studies in her future career.
Maha Amer prepares for a dive.
Q: Tell us about yourself.
Amer: “I am graduated with my MIB in April and will be finishing my Master of Science in Epidemiology in May 2023. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas in economics and public health, while competing in the swim and dive team. I have been diving since I was 7 years old and have stuck with it ever since. I love doing different activities like skateboarding and working out outside of my sport. I decided after graduating that I want to earn my master’s at one of the best schools in the country while finishing up my diving eligibility and nothing screamed louder than the University of Florida. I was fortunate enough to have been accepted in both programs and join the dive team and compete for the Gators.
I was 16 when I went to the Olympics in Rio in 2016. I was the youngest diver and I competed in the women’s 3 meter. There were 30 participants, and I came 28th. It all seemed big and new. I met a lot of great athletes, and it was my first time understanding that takes passion and hard work to reach goals that have never been reached before. I saw people working and doing their best with no surveillance and it really was eye opening. Competing in front of a crowd was new for me but it was one of my most favorite things. The Olympic Village was an amazing place and Brazil was just beautiful. An experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
Q: Why did you join the MIB program?
Amer: “I joined the MIB program because I believed that it was one of the most successful programs in business in USA. I also enjoyed almost all my classes and being taught by some of the best professors in their fields. Learning something new every day was one of my goals, and that is what I was able to do every day going to class.”
Q: What was your favorite part of the MIB program?
Amer: “My favorite part was my finance professor and the ambassador program. My finance professor was so knowledgeable, I learned so much from him that I did not even realize until the last day of classes when I was talking with one of my friends about the exchange rate in Egypt. The ambassador program gave me friends for life and some fun times to make a great change in program and enhance diversity and inclusion.”
Q: Where do you see yourself five years from today?
Amer: “I see myself working at an international organization that focusses on health from the business perspective and how to make people who are suffering from diseases that have been eradicated elsewhere live healthy lives. My dream is to help people in lower settings be as healthy and diseases free as they can.”
Q: Tell us 3 cool things about yourself.
Amer: “I love to play beach volleyball. I would never pass out on an opportunity to play beach volleyball. I have visited over 30 countries. I am absolutely obsessed with pugs.”
