If you’re lucky, you’ll have a mentor in your life to turn to for advice and inspiration. And for Huma Abedin, that person just happens to be one of the most influential women in politics.
Abedin was just 20 years old when she met Hillary Clinton as an intern at the White House. She went on to work for Clinton during her time as a U.S. senator, secretary of state, in addition to Clinton’s 2008 and 2016 presidential bids.
“I was never the smartest. I was never the prettiest. I was never the best anything. But what I’ve learned in government and politics in that first job is I found something that I loved,” Abedin, 47, said at Forbes and Know Your Value’s 30/50 summit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
“And I was willing to outwork just about anybody around me,” she added.
Abedin, who is vice-chair of the 30/50 summit, made the remarks during a panel for the event’s “Service Day,” speaking to approximately 100 female students at the Cranleigh school in Abu Dhabi.
She also shared a story about the power of mentorship when she was tasked with carrying one of Clinton’s speeches in her early days as an intern.
“The whole environment is really intimidating,” Abedin recounted. “You’re surrounded by Secret Service. I didn’t really know what I was doing. No one tells you what to do. They kind of throw you out into the deep end. And I remember getting into the car, checking my bag, making sure I had Purell and Sharpies and everything one needs when you’re staffing the First Lady of the United States — and I was really scared of her — I was really intimidated.”
Abedin said when she got to the event, she went to the stage and put Clinton’s speech on the podium. Just as Clinton was about to deliver the speech, she signaled to Abedin — in front of several TV cameras — to come over.
“I approached the stage, [Clinton] leans over and she says, ‘this is the wrong speech,’” said Abedin, who did not know at the time that Clinton had edited the speech in the car ride over to the event.
Despite wanting the “ground to open up and to be swallowed,” Abedin ran to Clinton’s limo, found the speech and delivered it to Clinton just as she began to speak.
After the event, she thought she might be fired from her job. But instead of chastising Abedin for not double-checking the speech, Clinton simply said, “You should ride in the limo with me from now on.”
That was a turning point for Abedin. “It was [Clinton] acknowledging her role in me not knowing that was the final speech … that this was a symbiotic relationship,” Abedin recounted. “And that was the beginning of our journey. And it was a pretty good one.”
Abedin closed her remarks with the advice she wished she had gotten in high school.
“Consider doing the thing that scares you the most,” she said. “Because you might be really good at it.”