Edinburgh is a city teeming with female leaders, those that shake the existing order and act as a guide for other women to smash through the glass ceiling that exists in a predominantly white male dominated capital.
Debora Kayembe, 46, is one such woman.
She is someone who has overcome an immense level of adversity to reach the elite tier of her profession - working with the Royal Society of Edinburgh and becoming rector of Edinburgh University.
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After growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Debora was sent to live with her aunt and uncle at a time of civil war following her parents splitting whilst she was still at a young age.
This meant that Debora had to work harder than everyone else from the offset - a trait that characterises the legal powerhouse that she has become.
After surviving through two tumultuous civil wars, she was afforded the rare opportunity of continuing her education beyond the basic level, with her aunt and uncle stumping up the cash for her to pursue a career at university.
Whilst at university, Debora began to excel and turn heads with her work.
On her early life, she said: “Childhood wise I was born in a sheltered family but was looked after outside of my biological parents. I stayed with my aunt and her family.
“I was a child who had very little time to enjoy childhood and I was very serious as I was raised by other people. So I took my education very seriously. I was really grateful to my aunty and uncle as they provided for my education at a time when the Congolese state refused to pay for our education beyond the basics. It was seen as something for men.
“Even as a young woman I was conscious that without my education there was no other freedom.