Helena Underwood: The Genomic Nomad 🌍🧬

"I decode DNA by day and the world’s hidden trails by night—life is too short for just one adventure." 🚀

From lab coats to luggage: a story written in genes + jet fuel ✈️💻

My story isn’t just health and medicine in pipettes and data clusters. It is about ripping up the rulebook and weaving it back together in colourful lines of wanderlust and raw enthusiasm.

Five years ago, I was just another over caffeinated and sleep deprived PhD student sinking in spreadsheets, until an epiphany ejected me from the matrix at midnight: Why do we have to pick between science and sublime? I created a life that allowed me to decode genomic material by sunrise, and climb volcanoes by sunset. 🔥

The Hustle: How I found myself in digital nomadism before it was a trend. 💼🌐

I started with $200, a LinkedIn account shouting "HIRE ME!", and an irrational hate for the monotony of the 9-to-5. Freelance work? Yup. Remote gigs? Yup. Sleeping in airports between Zoom calls? Yup.

Then came the pivot: a consulting business for biotech startups applying niche expertise, and doing my work from locations where the sand and the sea replaced lab benches. My clients would refer to me as the "Marie Kondo of genomic data"—I helped them upcycle their chaos into joy (and profit years later). 💸

Besides? I never stopped moving. I sequenced genomes in Bali. I interned in a riad in Morocco analyzing CRISPR datasets. I proved that innovation happens when you are moving. (Side note, my Wi-Fi internet router has more stamps than my passport). 📶✈️

Why should you want to follow along? Because normal is boring. ✨

• I’ll show you how to hack your career into something that doesn’t suck your soul.
• I’ll take you on adventures in places you can only access if you are willing to work where Wi-Fi is like water and even more boundaryless.
• I’ll convince you that 'impossible' is not a real algorithm. 😂

Stop making excuses, the world is waiting. Let’s create some chaos. ⚡

P.S. My DMs are open—for collabs, existential crises, and your best travel horror stories. 😉