Medical physicist Rachel Ibhade Obed and Mary Ann Williams, ICTP-Public Information, talk about Rachel′s decision to become a scientist. Rachel is from Nigeria and has been participating for the past 14 months in the Training and Research in Italian Laboratories programme at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. Rachel was awarded a Junior Associate fellowship as a promising young scientist, which entitles her to an extended period of paid research at the ICTP.