Gaurika Gupta

I attribute my success to my kids. I'm a single mom, and I believe my kids gave me that push to start my career and take it to the next level. They have always been supportive, and my daughter especially has been like my right hand. I do everything discussing with her, and wherever I get stuck, she steps up and figures out that she needs to help her mom here. She's always there for me. My children are truly the motivation behind everything I've accomplished.

The best career advice I've received, and what I tell my children as well, is that if you do what you like, then your work doesn't feel like work. I was a software engineer earlier and switched to teaching. Even when I was a software engineer, I internally felt I didn't belong there. Even though I could work on the code and submit code, I believe that if your career is your passion, then you are just doing what you like. You are not working just for a paycheck. When your work is your passion, you never feel like you're working at all.

I would say that anyone who enters this industry, be it a young woman or anyone entering this line, if you enter this field with experience by teaching yourself, you're able to create a better impact. I entered the industry by teaching myself, and because you have worked with children and parents, you understand the pain point and how things work, what is happening, and what we are delivering. Once in a while, I go and take a class even though I don't normally do that, but I teach in the classes to see what the students are feeling with the way we are delivering. I believe if you are in touch with your parents whom you are serving or the children you're teaching, it enables you to understand your own self and what you are doing, rather than just running something on an automated mode. I am a person who likes more of a personal touch, more of personalized teaching, rather than making it a very profitable or automated thing where you just keep getting people to teach and they'll just keep teaching and keep going ahead. I wanted more of a personalized curriculum which is according to the specific needs of each school and each group of students.

I'll say that the field of education is something that everybody gets into very easily. It's more about how you distinguish yourself in the market. Everyone who wants to start teaching can start teaching, saying that I want to teach this subject or that subject. But the real output is only when you are able to make a difference and not just think of it as a teaching job. When I started teaching, I used to teach group classes, but I never felt that satisfaction that I am teaching a group of students and I don't even know whether they've learned or not. It's like in a big class, you go, you teach, you leave, and whoever asks questions, you'll answer them. There was some emptiness inside me that it's not creating an impact. It's becoming like a regular classroom teaching. That's why we changed the model to a small classroom size where the instructor knows every student and we are able to actually understand what they're doing. The challenge is making sure it's not just about being profitable, but about creating real impact with personalized attention.

I value honesty the most. That is my number one criteria to work with anyone. On top of it, obviously there has to be work ethics, dedication, and commitment to what one is committed to, which is the foundation of any partnership to go a long way. I go with people who are willing to hold hands, who are not there to cheat or do wrong things or commit something and then disappear. That's not a company. You cannot create a company out of it. A company is where people hold hands and we move together. These values are essential for building something meaningful and lasting.