For those of you who have limited time, here is the twenty-second version of what I am going to say (a.k.a TL;DR):
“It’s time to give back to my community what I borrowed from them years ago: Knowledge. I am going to allocate my time to share my design knowledge, and starting free mentorship program.”
It took me ten years to get here. Ten years ago, I realized that I was not the best fit for finance industry. I was working successfully but unhappy on the top of the plaza building. Every morning, I was looking at the world from a different people’s perspectives. I was looking at the people how they get into bus, what they are reading, how they sip their coffee, how they push the elevator button, how they decide, how they interact with the world. I was definitely curious about human behavior.
The awareness of what I don’t like helped me to find who I am. I am a people person.
Even though studying economics at the college, I was spending my days at Modern Art Museums, discovering the collections, spending my summers at space camps to understand the universe deeper. I was attending lectures without being enrolled at fine art university, learning more. This enthusiasm gave me zero credit for graduation, but my future self.
I decided to go down the career ladder that I climbed. I said good-bye to my formal education that I have degree in. I start from the scratch to pursue my dream.
My dream was to invent, to produce, to explore, to make good, to demonstrate, to learn more day by day.
I am writing this to prove that anybody who wants a career change that’s possible. If I could do it in Silicon Valley, as a woman Muslim first generation immigrant, you could do it too.
Starting from December 10th, I am starting a free mentorship program. Enrollment is open but limited to three people. I am looking for the most enthusiastic career changers, who couldn’t lend their first design job. This is my only criterion. Because I know how painful is landing the first job.
This is not a program for you to find a job, but learning the path how to search. I will connect 1:1, possibly group one-time a week. Our connection duration will be six months. I will share the details.