When Nelly Chemutai began her career in Kenya, nothing substantial had prepared her for the global nomadism or the senior roles she has held at international biotechnology companies in Boston, Massachusetts, in the US.
But one memory has never left her. She remembers her father urging her and her siblings to imagine their lives beyond the familiar hills of Nandi, to see themselves not as bound by geography, but as citizens of a much wider world.
“One day, my dad gave me an atlas and told me, ‘The world is bigger than what you see here. Don’t ever think your life must stay in one place,’” she says.
Now, the 33-year-old is a senior quality assurance specialist at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals and has visited every continent in the world. In December 2025, she travelled to what felt like the edge of the world, Antarctica.
She says it was determination, shaped in childhood, that has carried her this far, enabling her to pursue three Master’s degrees in three different countries.
Her global career journey started in 2016, at the age of 23. Chemutai left Kenya for Denmark after completing her communications degree at Multimedia University.
Nelly Chemutai 33, Senior Clinical Project Manager, Sanofi Pharmaceutical, in Boston Massachusetts, in 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
Supported by her parents for tuition and upkeep, she went on to pursue a Master’s in Tourism Management at Aalborg University. In Denmark, everything required her to adjust quickly.
“The weather, the language, and the social cues; they all deconstruct what you know and are used to, and rebuild you differently.”
She recalls walking outside for the first time and feeling the wind cut straight through her coat. “It was nothing like I had experienced back in Kenya, and specifically in Nandi. I thought the weather alone might have defeated me. But I also knew I hadn’t come all that way to give up on day one.”
Towards the end of her Master’s course, she actively started seeking internship opportunities across Europe.
“The country did not matter. I sent applications everywhere,” she says. “Luckily, I got a position at the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2017. From January 2018 to January 2020, I worked on contract roles providing support in both administrative office functions and consular services.”
This experience in Sweden exposed her to diplomacy, policy, and international relations. “Working there made the world feel interconnected in a very real way. You see how decisions made in one office ripple across borders. It made me realise global systems aren’t abstract; they actually shape real lives.”
The role also sharpened her professionalism; she learned to communicate across cultures, manage sensitive information, and operate in environments where precision mattered.
Given that she wanted to venture into the startup world, she believed she would be better placed to do so if she had the right knowledge. She applied for and completed a Master of Science in Entrepreneurship in 2019 at Uppsala University in Sweden.
End of contract
When her contract at the embassy ended in 2020, she decided that it was time for her to return home. “I remember thinking, 'you’ve learned so much, but what is all this knowledge for if it never touches home?' You have to take something back and build with it.'”
Nelly Chemutai 33, Senior Clinical Project Manager, Sanofi Pharmaceutical, in Antarctica in December 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
She joined an e-commerce startup, Famobile, which was being funded by an angel investor, as its CEO, fresh from entrepreneurship school.
“I came back to head a business that sought to ease the delivery of groceries to Nairobi’s upmarket clients. Think of DoorDash in the West. We wanted to localise that and leverage Covid-19 restrictions to grow the business. We partnered with influencers and delivery service providers.”
She left eight months later. “For returnees, we always want to go back home. But circumstances are not always rosy. For instance, in startups, you are dealing with funding gaps, bureaucracy, and unpredictable infrastructure.”
She realised that while she wanted to contribute locally, she also needed global leverage and financial stability to sustain her impact.
“I told myself, ‘build strength first, then build change.' Otherwise, you burn out before you even begin. You cannot innovate on an empty stomach. The Kenyan market is brutal to understand, and sometimes it needs more than a degree. It was a good learning lesson for me, though.”
She was still on a student visa back in Sweden, so she packed her bags and returned to Stockholm. “I can’t say I failed at my role at the startup, but I wasn’t thriving.”
During her wait in Sweden, Chemutai survived on any job she could find. “I worked as a waitress, at a bakery, and as a cleaner in a hotel. Just about anything.”
She decided to take an even bigger leap: move to the US. She had successfully applied for the Diversity Visa programme, but at the time, many international borders were still closed or had restricted entry. This almost cost her the hard-earned opportunity. “I got to the US three days before my visa expiry date. Living by a thread, if you ask me.”
Her first stop in America was Minnesota, where she would send up to ten applications a day. On the day of her arrival, she started applying for jobs. “Luckily, the Diversity Visa programme did not require one to have a sponsor before arrival, so I got here with my savings and started to look for jobs. I like to push things. I would ask my friends to review my CV for different companies every day. In my true nature, I don’t settle, and this is not just in a geographical sense; I don’t settle for what I don’t like. I believe there is always better.”
Nelly Chemutai 33, Senior Clinical Project Manager, Sanofi Pharmaceutical, at Harvard Square, Harvard University in 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
Her efforts paid off when she landed a role at Boston Scientific as a compliance specialist in Minnesota. “When I got in, I wanted to change to communications, an internal role that was vacant, but in Boston. When I got to the US capital of biotech, my eyes opened wider to the variety of companies there, and that is how I started applying again.”
In March 2022, she found her footing in Boston when she landed a role at Sanofi as a compliance specialist on the commercial side of the business. “While a background in science is prioritised, project management skills are an added advantage. You have to demonstrate that you are a good learner and a good project lead. This is how I landed the role. Most of the things I do, I learned on the job.”
MBA in the US
She further enrolled in an MBA at Quantic School of Business and Technology to make herself more relevant in the American market.
Chemutai has worked at Sanofi for the last four years. During this time, she has moved from being a compliance specialist on contract to two permanent roles: quality auditor in research and development, and her current role as a senior quality specialist in research and development—a position she has held since June 2025.
While the role brought her stability, structure, and international exposure, it did not quiet her wanderlust. If anything, she says, it funded it. “I realised my job wasn’t just for paying bills; it gave me freedom as well.”
It was then that she set a goal to visit all seven continents. “I wanted to stand everywhere and know that geography doesn’t decide your limits. I needed that confirmation for myself.”
At the end of 2024, when the department she worked in at Sanofi closed down, she decided to take a break and tour the world. “My reasoning was, we strive so much to find work and forget what sets our souls on fire. For me, that is travelling.”
Someone from her workplace recommended her for her current role while she was appeasing her nomadic spirit at the other end of the world.
“I planned to go to Hong Kong and spend some time there, then travel to all the cities in Australia, come back to the US, and then plan the trip to Antarctica. By the end of 2025, my goal was to finish all the continents. So, I stayed in Hong Kong, explored the island, went to Macau, and flew to Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Melbourne. I went back to Sydney, came back to Boston, went to the Bahamas and the Caribbean, and then started planning for the last continent on the list.”
Nelly Chemutai, Senior Clinical Project Manager, Sanofi Pharmaceutical, in Antarctica in December 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
Antarctica was especially symbolic. “I kept thinking, ‘a girl from Nandi is about to stand at the edge of the world.'” She remembers thinking about her younger self flipping through that atlas in Nandi.
“I felt like I was answering her. Like I was saying, 'See? You were never dreaming too big.'”
Rather than treating the trip as a personal milestone alone, she tied it to her advocacy work supporting education access for children in rural Kenya through Textiles Advancing Impact, a non-profit she started in 2024. “I’ve seen what opportunity does. It doesn’t just change one life; it changes entire families. If I can help one child believe their future is open, then every mile I’ve travelled means something.”
Despite her global trajectory, she insists she has never lost her connection to home. “The more I see the world, the more I understand Kenya. Distance hasn’t erased my roots; maybe it has made them clearer.”
She acknowledges that her lifestyle has required trade-offs. Stability, relationships, and conventional milestones have sometimes taken a secondary role. “But I chose this consciously. You can’t live everywhere and still follow the same script as everyone else. Something has to give.”
Looking ahead, she hopes to expand her nonprofit work and continue travelling with purpose. She plans to start her Doctorate in Business Administration in the next few months. Will she ever settle? “I don’t think I’ll ever be fully settled. Not in a role, not in a country. Movement is part of my story now.”
