My Mission
The pace of innovation is getting faster, not slower. Work today looks nothing like it used to even 10 years ago. Andrew Yang's book says it best, Smart People Should Build Things.
I'm a big believer in the idea of multipotentialites. Epstein's Range discusses a similar idea to multipotentialites: that generalists across various fields are often the harbingers of innovation and disruption.
The future belongs to those who build it. Read more about why I do what I do below:
Experience
I've been an executive coach, a teacher, a management consultant, a data scientist, and a career coach.
The common thread of my experiences is entrepreneurship.
I'm currently working on the future of online education and innovation
I've had the privilege of working with amazing people in the education space over the past couple of years.
Cutting edge teams at the University of Virginia SCPS (#Launchpad)Seth, Marie, Taylor, and the amazing community at altMBA + Akimbo.The CS department at St. Anne's Belfield.My co-founders at Radify Labs.A community of ruckus makers at HackCville.
My own journey with education really was a complete accident. I still remember the first data science workshop I ran back in 2016. It was never about "being a teacher" for me – it was about fixing a problem that I was shocked by – the blinding ineffectiveness of traditional teaching approaches.
What started as an experiment to create a better learning environment for 12 students has now become a mission to create education that matters, and has touched thousands of students around the world.
Online education is more important and relevant now more than ever. Simultaneously, it's never been more obvious that we are responsible for building our future – together.
Creativity, innovation, problem-solving, operating in ambiguity and communication are the most important skills of today's economy.
They're also all skills you can't learn through a video lecture or a multiple-choice quiz. You learn real skills by doing real work with real people. I've seen it repeatedly, from high school students at STAB to executives in the altMBA.
I'm currently putting together the diverse educational programs and experiences I've seen over the years – and figuring out what the combination of everything looks like. I'm passionate about helping create lifepreneurs.
Because education innovation is about starting people, not ups.
If you're working in a similar space, or just curious what's brewing for Fall 2020 – reach out at yashtek96@gmail.com.
TekRefurbs
Chief Innovation Officer
January 2019 - April 2020
Helped grow a 40-person refurbishing company through sales expansion and system automations.
Automated pricing for 500+ amazon listings to save 30 hours/week. Developed Python templates to save >$30,000 in yearly shipping costs.
St. Anne's Belfield
HS CS and Entrepreneurship Teacher
August 2018 - May 2019
Helped improve and implement an integrated curriculum that combined math, art, and computer science for Computer Science Principles.
Co-taught the senior seminar in entrepreneurship. Sourced 3 local client for students, and taught design thinking + lean startup methodology for students to rapidly prototype their own ventures.
Radify Labs
Co-Founder and Chief Education Officer
January 2018 - December 2018
Co-founded Radify Labs right after graduating college. Grossed $60,000 over summer, running online internship programs and training for 153 students.
Applied and was accepted to Lighthouse Labs in the Fall of 2018 – one of eight companies from a batch of 200+.
HackCville
Director, Founding DS Instructor, Entrepreneurship Instructor
August 2016 - May 2018
Created HackCville's first course in Data Science, Node – which immediately became its most popular program offering.
Created HackCville's first summer bootcamp in Data Science (Launch). Ran a semester of entrepreneurship programming (Hustle). Oversaw all 12+ courses as student director, and created "challenges" to increase access to HackCville's competitive courses.
Together We Run
Co-Founder
September 2017 - January 2018
Traveled to 6 different cities across the United States to raise money for organizations that combat the racial prejudice and violence that occurred in Charlottesville on August 12th, 2017. Raised over $15,000 dollars.
S&P Global
Executive DS Program Creator
November 2017 - May 2018
Developed and taught a weekly curriculum for 10 executives from S&P Global over 8 months - helping improve management skills and understanding of computer science and data science processes.
Applied Predictive Technologies
Business Consultant & Data Scientist
May 2017 - August 2017
Automated financial forecasting using R and VBA, saving 160 hours of employee time.
Used cox-hazards regression to model credit risk for a large Australian Bank - reaching 94% accuracy on churn predictions.
DataProphet
Data Scientist and CAD Designer
May 2016 - August 2016
3D printed a custom EEG headset, and designed models for a mind-controlled wheelchair – reaching 86% accuracy.
Built NLP algorithms to aid a Twitter Scraper in automating customer service requests for Pepsi.
Coaching
I'm currently not taking any coaching clients.
I normally offer productivity coaching, career coaching, business strategy, and process automation coaching.
If you'd like to learn more about potential coaching - fill out the form below:
What I'm Building
I love creating new ideas, and putting them into action. Some projects become my full-time work, some are passed on, and others get put on hold, or pause.
I love to "bootstrap" new ideas all the time. The goal is never to create the next "unicorn", but rather, to launch something that's concrete and useful to the audiences it's designed for.
Past and Current Projects
LifeSchool
Currently Full-Time
Completely online project-based programs that focus on projects, connection, and shared experience in place of tests, quizzes, and recorded lectures. A thoughtful question beats a simple answer everyday.
Buildathons & 3x3 Groups
Active Upon Request
Weekend long buildathons to solve community issues and 3 hour, 3 person group work on "How might we" questions.
Radify Labs
Closed
Online career accelerator for college students + remote internships and training.
CareerStart
Active
A free online directory to help students navigate the many uncertain elements of a modern career.
InternLab
Paused
A platform to help high school students recruit, train, and manage student TA's. Full-circle project-based learning, and increased teacher to student engagement.
Together We Run
Finished
A series of 6 charity runathons across the United States raising over $15,000 to combat racial violence.
MindBrush
Closed
A web application designed to help users make mental wellness a daily part of well-being through scheduling, support, and calendar-based reminders.
BoostCville
Closed
An electric longboard rideshare in the Charlottesville area. As featured on MTV.
Coronavirus
Coronavirus has hit college students hard.
I've been hearing a lot about how hard this situation has hit families. I work with a lot of parents through altMBA, and all of my other education work is with college students and their careers.
I'm running an online program with the University of Virginia to help students who have lost internships. We're also running the Heroes of Purpose summer program to help students become career ready.
But I know that isn't enough. Both programs have capacity constraints – and there's a wealth of resources we've built along the way that we can share with families who are struggling. We're starting to put these resources together for both students and parents. If you're interested - let me know below.
