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Arfa Karim Randhawa’s most widely repeated advice about confidence is that shyness should not be allowed to decide what a person can do. The quotation is attributed to her by Dawn, which says it came from an interview with the Seattle P-I. Other reported remarks add context: Karim hoped to study computer science at MIT and argued that young people were talented and deserved to be promoted. These statements offer a glimpse of her outlook, not a complete or formally published philosophy of life.
What did Arfa Karim say about shyness and confidence?
In a January 20, 2012 remembrance, Dawn attributed this advice to an interview Karim gave to the Seattle P-I:
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“If you want to do something big in your life, you must remember that shyness is only the mind. If you think shy, you act shy. If you think confident, you act confident. Therefore, never let shyness conquer your mind.”
The attribution matters: the wording is printed in Dawn’s remembrance, which identifies the Seattle P-I interview as its source. The original interview transcript was not independently retrieved, so the quote is best presented with that attribution rather than as a separately verified transcript. Read Dawn’s remembrance.
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What else do her reported remarks reveal?
She wanted young people to be taken seriously
In journalist Todd Bishop’s first-person account of their correspondence, Karim responded to news about other young Microsoft Certified Professionals by writing, “Our generation is very talented and so should be promoted.” Bishop’s account places the remark in a broader appeal for youngsters to be taken seriously, rather than presenting it as a formal speech or a polished doctrine. Read Bishop’s account at GeekWire.
She had an ambition of her own
Bishop also wrote that, at 13, Karim was working hard in school and described MIT as her “dream university,” where she hoped to study computer science. This was an aspiration she expressed as a school student, not a degree or plan she is reported to have completed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who was Arfa Karim?
Karim was born near Faisalabad, Pakistan, on February 2, 1995. In 2004, at age nine, she passed the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) examination and was reported as the youngest MCP at that time. MCP was a Microsoft certification, not a university degree or an academic computer-science qualification. At age 10, she was invited by Bill Gates to visit Microsoft’s U.S. headquarters.
Her reported honours included the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in Science and Technology and the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award in 2005. The Associated Press of Pakistan also reports the Pride of Performance award; Radio Pakistan dates that award to 2005. See the Associated Press of Pakistan’s account and Radio Pakistan’s report.
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Karim died in Lahore on January 14, 2012, aged 16. The Associated Press of Pakistan and Radio Pakistan report cardiac arrest. A 2019 Associated Press of Pakistan anniversary report also notes that a commemorative postage stamp was issued after her death; that is a historical commemoration, not evidence of present availability. Read the anniversary report.
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