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A change in workplace management prompted Nadia elMasry (Chemistry PhD 1989) to retire from the pharmaceutical industry. Nowadays, she writes and sings her own pop songs alongside pursuing other artistic passions.

Nadia spent 25 years working in various senior leadership positions across biotechnology and pharmaceuticals companies. But in 2019, after four years as Regional Head of Internal Audit at pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, a shift in leadership left her facing redundancy.

“I took a few months to decide whether I wanted to look for another role within the same company or continue in the industry I had been in, or to use this opportunity to hit the reset button,” says Nadia.

“I decided to take a break and gave myself the opportunity to freefall without knowing necessarily where my path was going to lead.”

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic brought Nadia unforeseen opportunities to embrace her interest in the arts. When her husband, a professional pianist who was left without live audiences to play his music for, took up fine art photography as a new pursuit, Nadia offered to be his curator when an opportunity to exhibit his work arose.

“I’m extremely proud of him and I think his work is marvellous,” she adds. “I had no curation experience whatsoever but had done a lot of events management. I’m also a great art lover and have visited more museums than I can care to think of. The two of us put together his first exhibition and it was extremely well received.

“I’ve been the curator of every exhibition he’s had since then. I’ve also had the chance through that work to curate another photographer’s work.”

More recently, Nadia’s primary focus has been on making music. Having been a choral singer for 20 years, she was approached in 2023 by a friend who asked her to sing to some music he had written. Nadia was inspired to write lyrics and the pair then teamed up with a bass player to create a 1980s-inspired pop song, which was picked up by Radio Basilisk, a local radio station in Basel.

“Still seeing it as somewhat of a lark and a bit of a joke, we worked on some more music,” says Nadia. “After the third song, we thought that we were getting close to an album, and that maybe we should think about putting this together professionally and taking ourselves a bit more seriously than we had been. That’s where we are at the moment, and we’re working on the fourth and the fifth songs.”

Nadia has been delighted to find support for her musical exploits from Gonville & 91ֱ�� College. She is a volunteer for the Mentoring Programme at 91ֱ��, where alumni can offer their professional advice and experiences to current students and recent graduates. While offering advice regarding work in the healthcare sector, Nadia received her own feedback on her music from her student mentee.

“My mentee was very sweet and supportive with regards to my burgeoning desire to create pop music,” she adds. “She made me feel less foolish about trying to do something like that at my age.”

A further sign for Nadia that she was on the right path was her being selected as one of 750 volunteers, out of over 7,000 applicants, to support the running of the 2025 Eurovision Contest in Switzerland. She considers this a big inspiration for her to keep moving forward with her music.

Nadia adds: “I read once that if you can identify what you loved to do when you were 10 years of age, that is something you should try to pursue for your adult life. It made me think that what I loved to do when I was 10 was singing all the pop songs I’d seen on Top of the Pops the night before, memorising them to perform for my friends at school.”

Despite being a world away from her previous professional experience, Nadia’s creative journey in recent years has brought her joy and fulfilment.