Success is often measured in titles, trophies, and material possessions. However, such metrics are grossly inadequate to capture Yvette’s 80-storied years in this world.
Based on three decades of friendship with her, she has always consistently embodied three vital metrics that define success in its truest form.
The first is her deep sense of integrity and moral character. To call Yvette a resolute and remarkable woman would be an understatement.
She doesn’t bend to corruption or undue influence in any setting—whether serving her country at home or representing its interests abroad.
In conversations, she often recounts numerous stories about how rich businessmen wanted to bribe her with vast sums during her work in Sierra Leone after her retirement from the UN. Similarly, she also speaks of her time as Sierra Leone’s ambassador in Geneva when powerful countries pressured her to support UN resolutions that she considered unjust.
Her second attribute is her resilience. We are grateful that we have on record countless cases of how she demonstrated resilience throughout her long career and in raising her family. These cases can be read in her incredibly rich memoir, *Breaking Open Barriers*, which was published in 2024.
I believe this book is an excellent resource for youth training courses, teaching young people how to persevere and excel even when the odds of success seem insurmountable.
In riveting prose, she tells the story of how she thrived in male-dominated environments—from outperforming boys in science subjects in high school to skillfully navigating her way to the top-tier of the UN system, where she became a Director at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York, and Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva. She started her UN career as a Village Technology Expert at the ILO and later became Chief of the Technical Support Section of the the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
Yvette studied at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute and at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, and taught engineering at the University of Sierra Leone for six years. She is Sierra Leone’s first female engineer—a record she holds with pride.
She accomplished all of these heights while single-handedly raising five children who became highly successful in their own right.
I find the motto she adopted to fuel her professional ambition particularly inspiring: “Either the best, or nothing!”
Yvette’s third virtue is her unassuming nature and the depth of her personal bonds. Always down to earth, her impressive network of friends—on full display at her birthday celebrations in Marrakech—is a testament to her skill in nurturing friendships.
Indeed, her truest success isn’t just in what she has achieved, but in how she conducted herself while achieving it.
She has demonstrated that you can be successful without being arrogant and cold, and ambitious without losing sight of the people around you.
Yvette is one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Her constant warm-heartedness, even in the face of loss and adversity, makes everyone around her feel at ease. She’s always full of smiles and jokes.
I must end by saying that despite her engineering background, she follows global development and security issues closely. We often share posts on African and global affairs on WhatsApp.
I wish her good health and many more wonderful years.
