My childhood dream was to be an architect – Diana Hamilton

Celebrated gospel musician Diana Hamilton has shared how her childhood dream of becoming an architect unexpectedly shifted towards nursing, influenced by her aunt’s guidance.

Speaking on The Career Trail on Joy Learning TV and Joy News, Mrs. Hamilton revealed that growing up, she was passionate about creativity and technical drawing, which made her believe she would become an architect.

“At a point in time, I thought I was going to be an architect because I was very good at technical drawing. I think that informed my creativity. Nursing was never part of the dream,” she said

However, after completing her secondary education at Ghana National College, her plans took a surprising turn.

“I had finished Ghana National College and was deciding whether to go to KNUST. A lady walked up to my father and said, ‘Let Diana go and do nursing.’ My father agreed, and surprisingly, I didn’t object,” she disclosed.

Reflecting further, Diana highlighted that her interest in nursing had been unknowingly planted much earlier during Junior Secondary School, when her mother’s sister, a nurse battling terminal breast cancer, came to live with their family.

“While I was in Junior Secondary School, my mother’s sister came to live with us. She was a nurse, and everything I admired. She was battling breast cancer and was dying, but she taught me how to care for her. She showed me how to give injections, dress her wounds, make her bed — she taught me everything about nursing, long before I ever considered it as a career,” she recounted.

This deeply personal experience became the foundation of her response during her nursing school interview at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

“They asked me why I wanted to be a nurse. I said, my aunty had just passed from breast cancer. She was a beautiful woman who loved fashion, but also knew how to switch roles and be a professional nurse. I wanted to be like her,” she recalled.

That pivotal moment marked the beginning of a journey that led her to become a registered nurse and eventually practice in the United Kingdom.

When asked why she didn’t continue nursing in Ghana, Diana explained that most of her music opportunities were coming from the UK, making frequent travel exhausting.

“I did my rotation at Korle Bu for about two years. Within that time, I was in and out of London. Most of my musical gigs were in the UK. Traveling frequently between Ghana and the UK became too stressful, so I decided to stay in the UK,” she noted.