A mother and her daughter who remarkably graduated from medical school in the same year have now begun their residencies together on the same date: July 1.

Dr. Cynthia Kudji Sylvester recalls a day 31 years ago, when she knew she was going to become a doctor. Per PEOPLE, she was visiting Ghana as a 19-year-old when a female stranger approached who needed help.

[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSfXwXt0jBs]]

“She was talking about her daughter who was sick and had a fever,” Cynthia told PEOPLE in an interview. “She picked us just because we were American. There was such a drastic divide between us, and that really hit home. It was in that moment that I knew I wanted to be a physician.”

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/priyankachopra/status/1286771209724497920]]

However, just one year later, Cynthia fell pregnant with her daughter, Jasmine, during her senior year at Tulane University. Her dreams of becoming a doctor were forced to be put on hold.

“Medical school at that time was out of the question,” she said.

Instead, she became a nursing assistant, working her way up over the following 10 years to become a nurse practitioner. And with help from her family, in 2013 Cynthia finally had enough money saved to go to medical school.

"Even though it was a long uphill journey, it shaped me. Every disappointment, every accomplishment made me want to push further and create a better life for my daughter.” She said.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/1272332999951073281]]

Her daughter, Jasmine, who was a junior at Louisiana State University, had already decided that she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps.

“My mom always inspired me to be everything that I wanted to be,” Jasmine told PEOPLE. “I watched her overcome things firsthand. We’ve come a long way.”

And now, Jasmine and her mother have started their medical residencies on the same date together - July 1 - through the LSU Health System.

“Jasmine has always been my rock,” Cynthia says. “We’re in this together.”

Mother and daughter graduate med school in same year and begin residencies at the same time