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Design a meaningful
future with intention

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Learn valuable insights and tools to support your teens on the journey to successful college applications

Academic and career coaching that empowers young people to plan their own futures and pursue paths which align with their interests and passions.

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Preparing for life after high school often comes with feelings of stress and doubt.

I'm here to help you find clarity, plan your next steps and make progress towards your future goals!

How I can
help ›

  • I can help you discover and pursue your interests by drowning out the pressure that comes from peers, society, family, and even yourself. We will focus on what YOU are interested in and identify ways to spend time pursuing those passions to inspire excitement about your future.

  • I can help you apply to the colleges|universities that are the right fit for you. Specifically, I can help you choose the educational program that excites you, the size of the school that fits your learning needs, in the location that allows you to explore your interests, and that includes extracurricular activities you can engage in to contribute to the school community and community at large.

  • I can help you apply to colleges|universities with focus, calm, and excitement so that you can enjoy the process, create strong applications, while meeting all the deadlines. I will motivate you to keep your application on the front burner during a very busy school year with extracurricular activities and responsibilities. I will support you through the entire process so that you are not overwhelmed, confused, or burned out.

  • I can help you find the money you need to go to the college|university of your choice. Together, we will put together strong applications that show your leadership skills and potential, your unique strengths, and make a strong case as to why you deserve a scholarship out of all the other applicants. I will help you prepare for the dreaded interviews so that you are confident in answering the questions that may be asked.

  • I can help you answer common questions asked by interviewers as part of the college|university application or the scholarship application process. We will brainstorm the best ways to answer questions like ‘Tell me about yourself’, ‘Why do you want to come to this school?’, ‘How will you contribute to the school community?’, ‘What are your ambitions after graduation?’, ‘Describe a leadership role that was meaningful to you and what you learned about yourself from this experience’, and so many more depending on the situation. I will share interview tips and tricks to help you feel confident, comfortable and authentic.

  • I can help you tell your story in a unique and authentic way in your college|university applications. We will brainstorm times when you’ve gone out of your comfort zone, experienced a challenge, taken initiative, solved a problem, met an unmet need, etc… and reflect on what you learned about yourself, others, and the world.

  • I can help you develop confidence in yourself, your abilities and what you can offer the world. I will help identify situations that may cause you to waiver in your confidence (we all have them) and work with you to identify the areas in your life that you feel really confident in and remind you about these when you start to doubt yourself.

Meet your
guide ›

You are a ›

  • How can you support and encourage your teen in planning their next step after high school without pressuring them?

    As your teen reaches their last year of high school, you are feeling the pressure to make sure they choose the right educational and career path. Just like with all aspects of parenting, you don’t have an instructional manual on how to support your teen in this process. It’s been a while since you applied to college|university or perhaps you didn’t have that opportunity.

    As a parent of a teen nearing the end of high school, you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed by all the school and program choices, the financial implications, the essays, the references, the interviews, etc., and are not sure how you can help your teen meet the deadlines. This is taking a toll on your relationship with your teen because all you talk about (or probably, argue about) these days is college|university applications and everyone in the house is feeling the same.

    You’re feeling like you’re doing too much or not enough at the same time…and feeling defeated as a parent.

    Does this sound like you?

  • How can you plan what to do after high school without feeling confused, overwhelmed, and stressed while meeting all your responsibilities and keeping your mental health intact?

    When nearing the end of one stage of your life (like high school), it is natural to feel doubt, overwhelm, and confusion. These feelings can freeze your ability to make choices that are right for you. And when you have so many other things going on, like keeping up with your grades, participating in extracurricular activities (many of them in leadership positions), and other responsibilities like work or taking care of a sibling…it is hard to plan for what’s next in a thoughtful way. You’re tired of the question, “what are you going to do after high school?”

    As a student finishing high school, you are questioning yourself, your abilities, and feel like you lack direction about your future. You feel like everyone else around you has it all figured out. You procrastinate making plans and even thinking about the whole application process. You’re worried because you feel you won’t get accepted because your grades aren’t good enough. You’re feeling hopeless and anxious.

    This is taking a toll on your mental health.

    Does this sound like you?

You are a ›

  • How can you support and encourage your teen in planning their next step after high school without pressuring them?

    As your teen reaches their last year of high school, you are feeling the pressure to make sure they choose the right educational and career path. Just like with all aspects of parenting, you don’t have an instructional manual on how to support your teen in this process. It’s been a while since you applied to college|university or perhaps you didn’t have that opportunity.

    As a parent of a teen nearing the end of high school, you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed by all the school and program choices, the financial implications, the essays, the references, the interviews, etc., and are not sure how you can help your teen meet the deadlines. This is taking a toll on your relationship with your teen because all you talk about (or probably, argue about) these days is college|university applications and everyone in the house is feeling the same.

    You’re feeling like you’re doing too much or not enough at the same time…and feeling defeated as a parent.

    Does this sound like you?

  • How can you plan what to do after high school without feeling confused, overwhelmed, and stressed while meeting all your responsibilities and keeping your mental health intact?

    When nearing the end of one stage of your life (like high school), it is natural to feel doubt, overwhelm, and confusion. These feelings can freeze your ability to make choices that are right for you. And when you have so many other things going on, like keeping up with your grades, participating in extracurricular activities (many of them in leadership positions), and other responsibilities like work or taking care of a sibling…it is hard to plan for what’s next in a thoughtful way. You’re tired of the question, “what are you going to do after high school?”

    As a student finishing high school, you are questioning yourself, your abilities, and feel like you lack direction about your future. You feel like everyone else around you has it all figured out. You procrastinate making plans and even thinking about the whole application process. You’re worried because you feel you won’t get accepted because your grades aren’t good enough. You’re feeling hopeless and anxious.

    This is taking a toll on your mental health.

    Does this sound like you?

Hi, I’m Tasneem!

I am the person I am today because I chose my own path, but my journey didn’t start that way.

My own experience applying to university was overwhelming and I had little support. After completing my graduate studies in 2001, I moved to the Pamirs, a remote mountainous region of Tajikistan (former Soviet Union), to do an internship in public health. While living there, I was approached by many young people wishing to study abroad, but they didn’t know how to apply.

For over 3 years, I spent my evenings and weekends helping them figure out what they wanted to study and how to apply to the right schools and scholarships. I was inspired by them. In the midst of conflict, poverty, natural disasters, and lack of opportunities, these young people valued education so much.

I moved back to Canada in 2005 where I worked at the University of British Columbia to help international students struggling to adjust to the academic culture. Since then, I have spent my life helping young people create a life that is meaningful and authentic to who they are, connected to what they value most.

Through my travels in South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and North America I have met so many young adults struggling to know themselves and I have learned that this is a universal experience.

If you feel ready to dig deep within yourself, explore new paths, and map your own route, reach out today! I would love to be your guide on this journey.

What is
Coaching?

Coaching is an opportunity to dig deep within yourself to design a life that is true to who you are.

As your coach, I will provide you with support and guidance so that you feel confident and empowered on the path ahead. Coaching happens in an environment of trust, no judgement, and honest dialogue.

From working together,
you can expect to:

  • understand yourself better,

  • explore possibilities that may seem impossible now,

  • develop a goal-oriented plan, and

  • take steps towards achieving your goals!

Working
Together ›

  • Helping you quiet the mind and uncover deeply meaningful insights in your lived experiences, interests, and passions to help you identify your educational and career path. These insights will help you write powerful personal essays that show university and college admissions committees and scholarship committees who you are beyond your grades, your potential, and what you have to offer the world. These insights will help you articulate your skills, qualities, and strengths in your application essays and during interviews. And these insights will help you develop confidence in who you are.

  • Helping you sift through all the noise and confusion in your life to set goals that are realistic, time-bound, and feel right at this stage of your life. These goals could include deciding whether or not to apply to a big or small university/college, or to take some time off to volunteer for an organization you’re interested in after graduation, or to write an essay about the time you initiated an important social justice initiative at your school, amongst so many other goals. And progress on these goals will be monitored on a regular basis.

  • Helping you achieve your goals with personalized and simple tools. These tools and resources will allow you to create university|college applications that are thoughtful, insightful, and powerful, or provide you with a roadmap for where you want to go with your life or help you prepare for that very important interview with a scholarship committee, and anything in between.

  • Helping you move from planning to actually doing something with the plan….with ease, support, and excitement. Each coaching session will end with me asking “so what do you need to do before we meet next, when will you do these things, and what will get in your way?” These questions will help you move forward step by step during our time together.

I am passionate about empowering my clients to focus on themselves and be excited to participate in life.

My 30+ years of lived and professional experience, with all the ups and downs, allow me to support my clients in their next steps in ways that feel good to them and quiet outside pressures.

During coaching conversations, I will make connections that help inform your next steps. I keep my clients accountable so they are motivated to move past the tough parts of their journey. I show up 100% for my clients and expect the same from them — this is a shared responsibility. I inspire my clients to achieve their goals with excitement, persistence, and positive mindsets, all while removing unnecessary stress and pressure.

FAQs ›

  • Coaching is a great way to share your dreams, no matter how scary they may feel, without any judgment, but unconditional support and encouragement. Coaching allows you to bounce ideas off of someone who can help you achieve the goals you’ve set out for yourself and help you see things from a different perspective in order to explore possibilities. Coaching allows you to get to your destination quicker (than if you did it on your own) and with clarity.

  • We will connect for an hour to talk about you. I will ask you some questions that get you to think deeper about your goals and create your future the way you want it to look like. I will share stories from my own experience and those of people I have coached over the years to inspire you. I will make connections with what you have said and how you feel — that you will not notice on your own. I will always support you in moving forward — I will show up 100%.

  • Absolutely not. Exploring interests is what you need to do after high school. This can be done by taking college|university courses that interest you, by volunteering or working, by doing an internship in an organization whose mission resonates with you, and so much more. Everyone's career journey is unique.

  • Reflect on who you are and what you are interested in . . . and then go from there. I always start a coaching relationship with doing the Strong Interest Inventory assessment and then setting goals from there.

  • Everyone has a story to tell that highlights who they are and what makes them unique. It doesn’t need to be something big (like building a house in Guatemala for Habitat for Humanity) or something innovative (like starting a business at the age of 10) — it can be something just as meaningful as taking care of a sibling after school in a single-parent household, being captain of your school’s basketball team,  or volunteering at a local Food Bank. Everyone’s essay can be memorable.

  • Know what colleges|universities are looking for and show them who  you are beyond grades and test scores.

Kind Words ›

  • "Working on my university application with Tasneem has been a valuable learning process for me. Tasneem’s ability to create a well-organized, structured, and customized program for me was crucial in helping me work on my application while being busy with school and extracurricular activities. I was able to submit my application by the deadline and feel really good about it. I’ve been accepted to all the schools I applied to!"

    Ahna, Grade 12 — Vancouver, Canada

  • "Tasneem helped me keep my mindset in check during the entire program and keep on top of all the things I need to do for college applications to meet the deadlines. Tasneem helped me become confident in who I am and what I have to offer the world. I am forever grateful to Tasneem for her expertise, insight, and support. "

    Natalie, Grade 11 — Maryland, USA

  • "The stress of applying to college has been relieved and I can’t believe how it just didn’t seem like work when I had Tasneem to bounce ideas off of, keep me on task, and share her insights from the college admission officer perspective. I feel really good about submitting my application."

    Zahraa , Grade 12 — Vancouver, Canada

  • "I was dreaming of studying abroad and discovering the world. Tasneem helped me write essays for my college applications that told my story of war, displacement, and resilience. She inspired me to change the quality of my life and instilled a confidence in me that I never had. I will forever be grateful to Tasneem for helping me find my strengths and pursue a degree at Columbia University in New York."

    Adiba, Graduate School — Khorog, Tajikistan

  • "I received a full two-year scholarship, an opportunity to leave my small country and transform my life. I finished high school in Canada and am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Trent University. I would not be where I am today if it was not for Tasneem’s guidance and support. She is the reason why I was able to achieve my dreams!"

    Lalbegim, Grade 9 — Dushanbe, Tajikistan

  • "I applied to the top universities in Canada and was accepted by all of them, thanks to Tasneem! I am now a fourth year Political Science student at The University of British Columbia and I credit my success in applying to universities after high school to Tasneem."

    Inaara , Grade 12 — Vancouver, Canada

  • "My daughter went from not knowing what to highlight in her application to being able to showcase her passions, interests, and skills in unique and powerful ways. What I found most valuable is that my daughter learned so much about herself and gained self-confidence in the process. After working with Tasneem, my daughter has gained a sense of who she is and I am so grateful for this!"

    Samiha, Grade 12 parent — Vancouver, Canada

  • "Having Tasneem work with my daughter has been a HUGE load off of our shoulders — it was one less thing to worry about and so reassuring. I knew we were headed in the right direction with Tasneem’s knowledge and expertise in what universities are looking for and her ability to ensure that my daughter’s application reflected who she is. In the process, my daughter learned some important life skills!"

    G.C., Grade 12 parent — Vancouver, Canada

  • "Tasneem is an expert in her field who takes an individual approach to every student based on their needs. It was great to learn from Tasneem’s various techniques and strategies to make my writing more profound. I am grateful for her help and support during a stressful time. Thanks to Tasneem, I have been accepted to one of the top Universities in London."

    Gulbegim, Graduate School — Khorog, Tajikistan

Blog ›

Interviews & Podcasts ›

What You Should Know About University Applications

May 21, 2022

Is the stress of applying for college leading to binge eating?

May 25, 2022

The Importance of Academic Coaching for Students Applying to Universities 

Spice Radio, Morning Buzz

August 13, 2024

Let’s Chat›