It started on a stage. I gave my first TEDx talk in 2015, on leadership. Two years later I led and taught the Global Futures Curriculum at GEMS Wellington Academy for a full school year, in partnership with Singularity University. In 2018 I gave my second TEDx talk, on what martial arts taught me about connecting with people.
Then I started coaching other people. At the University of Toronto I joined Toastmasters and coached its speakers. One of them gave her first speech about her stutter, and that summer she presented her research at Baycrest. I was also a Campus Experience Officer for the Engineering Society, mentoring students one-on-one and in groups. In 2019 I went back to coach the TEDxYouth@ASPS speakers, the year after my own talk there.
At the University of Birmingham Dubai, I started what was missing. A Speech and Debate Society in 2021, in the middle of COVID. The same year I was elected student association president, representing 4,000 to 5,000 students, and started the annual club awards. In 2022 I co-founded the university’s ACM student chapter, which won Most Active Club of the Year. I also coached the Public Speaking Society. At the 2024 university competition, my students took first, second, and third.
Now I build and coach. I’m a software engineer at Opteam. I also coach public speaking for DIEZ’s Employee-to-Entrepreneurship program. I build products: SLSweets, a website for a family bakery, and two apps in testing, Henchmate for D&D tables and Ayati for keeping the Quran you’ve memorized. And this year I gave my third TEDx talk, Why Trying Harder Keeps Failing You.