‘I can succeed as a woman in Ireland and be respected’

As a girl, Ingy Girgis was mesmerised by a piece of art in her family home – a framed painting of a young woman sitting by lake surrounded by mountains. Growing up in Egypt’s bustling capital city of Cairo, it was difficult for her to imagine such peace and quiet. “We lived in the middle of a city with tall buildings and very few trees, with lots of cars and buses beeping their horns and people rushing to work. I always stood in front of that painting and said to myself, I’ll be that girl one day. And, believe it or not, now I am.”

Girgis is speaking via Zoom from her home in the seaside village of Killala, Co Mayo. “I lived in a city most of my life, so I know how rewarding it is to wake up in the morning and hear nothing but the birds or the rain. It’s like heaven,” she says. “I think there’s a lot of people now who want to move away from the city and find the peace and beauty of nature.”

The daughter of a businessman and a stay-at-home mum, Girgis and her two younger brothers grew up in a middle-class Egyptian family and attended a private school where she learned to speak English fluently from an early age. Her father worked hard to give his children opportunities; her mother, who also studied business before having children, returned to university once all three children had left for college. “I grew up watching my dad build his own business and facing challenges. Yet he always made sure we got what we needed, and my mum taking care of us kids and then going back to work because that was what she wanted.

“I was really lucky to have parents who pushed us to do what we wanted in life, who understood that if we study a subject, it doesn’t mean our life has to go in that one direction. They encouraged us to do what we wanted, not what culture demanded us to do.”

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After school, Girgis studied for a degree in architectural engineering and became fascinated by the work of the Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid. “She went against the norm and was an amazing woman. She won lots of awards even though at the start of her career people said she wouldn’t make it. I love people who push through, women especially in male-dominated professions like this. And seeing a woman with very creative, outside-the-box ideas thrive in that field, it made me want to be like her.”

After graduating, Girgis moved for a year to Brighton, where she worked and stayed with cousins. “I chose the UK because it felt close enough to home but was English-speaking. It’s not common in Egypt for a girl to travel on her own. Most people don’t leave their parents at 18; they live with them for as long as they want. But I was determined to do things on my own, to work and support myself.”

Although she liked England, Girgis struggled to settle, so she started looking for opportunities elsewhere. She had heard positive reports about Ireland and its booming tech industry, so she applied for a few jobs across the Irish Sea. In 2015 she was offered a role as a data analyst working on Apple’s map application. She packed her bags and arrived in Cork city on New Year’s Eve.

“I spent that evening walking around, watching people celebrate, and it felt like I was in the right place. I wanted to be somewhere smaller and quieter, but I wasn’t ready for a small town yet. Cork was just the right size for me.”

Girgis spent two years working in Cork, forming strong friendships with Apple colleagues from across the globe. “I took the same bus to work every day with the same bus driver, and I got to know him. I’d never experienced that before. When they know you in the local shop, that was a really new feeling. You never speak to strangers back home; you’re raised not to look people in the eye or say hello.”

In 2017, when the Apple project wrapped up, she started looking for jobs in more rural areas and found a position with an international tech company based in Ballina, Co Mayo. Unlike in Cork, most of her new colleagues were Irish and from the local area.

“I was the only foreigner on my team, and the accent was very hard to understand; it didn’t sound like English to me. Everyone was so welcoming, but no one could believe I’d moved from Cork to Mayo. They told me most people go in the opposite direction; they move to Cork or Dublin.”

For the first time, Girgis could afford to rent her own apartment rather than share a house with others; she found a three-bedroom home in Foxford. By the time the pandemic hit in March 2020, and Ireland went into lockdown, Girgis had moved to Ballina. She was already accustomed to remote working with her company but found the total lack of human interaction extremely difficult.

“At that point all I wanted was to be at home with my family. I don’t want to say I was depressed. That’s a big word, but I wasn’t me. I’m a very cheerful and happy person and try to find the good in things. But not being able to meet friends and being locked up, that was very hard.”

Left with plenty of free time, Girgis started studying remotely for a degree in pharmaceutical business operations at Griffith College. When she completed the course she secured a new role with Peroptyx, a Castlebar-based machine-learning company working with AI.

“I felt I’d given everything I could to my previous company, and I’m always looking for growth, personally and professionally. I honestly think Peroptyx was the best decision of my career. I’ve been extremely lucky to find the people I’m working with.”

Girgis feels fortunate to now be living in Killala; she has heard horror stories from friends struggling to rent or buy a home in Ireland. “I’ve spoken to people who rent places no human should live in for a huge amount of money. It’s unfair on people who work hard but cannot climb up that ladder.”

She loves visiting Egypt but says when she sees the “Welcome to Co Mayo” sign on her drive back from the airport she feels at home. “It’s like I can breathe: I’m home. I’ve never been like that before. I never really became attached enough to a place that it feels like home. Egypt has so much to offer, but I wanted something different.”

Living in Ireland has also given Girgis a confidence she never imagined possible. “When I arrived I was that shy girl who didn’t trust people easily. Now I say hi to everyone in the street and I’m way more relaxed. I can succeed as a woman here and be respected.”