January fourteenth, 2024. I approached the HR department at SATashkent seeking a job as an SAT mentor. The sole aim? Reaching financial stability.

The training period lasted two weeks. And at the beginning of February, I was teaching my first group, marking the start of a 1.5-year journey.

During my time as a teacher, I also developed my public speaking skills. Having to put myself in the center of attention in a room full of 20 heads put me far from my comfort bubble. Improvisation, confidence, and grit in public speaking all came from this single experience.

But my work at SATashkent was beyond just acquiring a few new skills. I, somewhere along the way from running late to my classes to after-hours chats with my colleagues, tasted bits of the corporate culture. Starting my Mondays “happy” or my coffee taste going from iced lattes to strong espressos were all small signs that I was growing into a more professional version of myself.

This journey ended back in May, however. There is a point in each person’s life where they feel they should focus on something greater, something that brings even greater value. While being a mentor is one of the most “value-generating” jobs out there, I knew I could do more.

From January 2025, I started working on a small yet ambitious project. We called it Agora. It was initially a mini writing curriculum that I dedicated my wee hours to. But the project scaled up quickly. And it got to a certain point that I had to quit my part-time at SATashkent and go full-time with Agora. Thanks to SATashkent’s partnership, we are progressing rapidly. (But more about Agora in later posts).

Find your passion, they said. Turns out my passion found me—it was hiding behind a stack of lesson plans and a particularly stubborn group of teenagers.