Adiba, 44, has a 3 year old precious son, Alex, and a crazy little needy dog named Sky. Adiba was born as a child of war in Beirut, Lebanon. At the age of 7 she and her family fled to Sweden to survive, and start over. Her over two decade long career in the tech and startup industry took her from Stockholm, Sweden to San Francisco, Silicon Valley in early 2011. They are now residents of Cornelius, North Carolina, and Adiba is proud to be a dual citizen of the US and Sweden.
Adiba has had a life filled with both tough challenges, great achievements and tons of fun adventures and joy. From being a child of war to fleeing Lebanon, to being an immigrant in Sweden. She worked hard for her successful career as a young woman in the male dominated tech industry. A career that led her to becoming the youngest CEO in Silicon Valley Forum’s over 30 year long history.
She survived stage 1 breast cancer twice at age 27 and 30, only to find herself diagnosed with the terminal, stage 4, metastatic breast cancer at age 37. Throughout the years she’s learned how to handle these challenges, survive and thrive from them instead of laying down and giving up. She did not give up on having her baby despite her deadly diagnosis. In 2018, she and her husband were matched with their superhero surrogate, and used 2 of the 3 embryos they saved before Adiba’s ovaries were removed. On Oct 26, 2018, after trying and hoping for 15 years, Adiba finally became a mother.
She has to date lived with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) for almost 7 years, and is a fierce advocate for the MBC community through her volunteer work at METAvivor. She is on her 5th line of treatment, and has had 9 surgeries and too much radiation to count. Despite dealing with tough side effects on a daily basis, she has an immense passion for educating the public on MBC, both in the US and Sweden. She feels it is important that people learn how it really is to live with metastatic breast cancer which is far from the pink fluff fluff portrayed. Her greatest mission is however to raise crucial funds for MBC research.
She recently published a book about her life’s journey, “When Life Hands You Cactuses, Make Margaritas”, iIncluding her 8 ingredient margarita recipe on how to overcome challenges and thrive in life. Adiba has received HERS Breast Cancer Foundation’s “Empowerment Award 2016” and Susan G. Komen SF’s “Make A Difference Award 2017”.
You can follow Adiba on Instagram @adibabarney or connect on Linkedin. .
