Dear reader,
What makes a person unique? How does one set oneself apart?
These are the kinds of questions I've been thinking deeply about these past few weeks.
Especially, as it continues to get harder for early professionals to break into the industry, it is more important than ever to explore such an idea.
In an attempt to find an answer, a few days ago, I met Sahar for a coffee chat.
Sahar has done a lot of things that I want to do. He has worked with amazing people in tech, he has started communities, and grown them to the point of sustainability. He has done that not once, but multiple times.
One of his projects that I am a huge fan of is Yenta. He started this newsletter to connect the people he was meeting. He has used this project to set people up on dates, jobs, housing and so much more. He had taken a break from it after his daughter was born, but it's about to come back.
While our meeting was intended to seek his guidance on career, it ended up being much more.
One of the many things we discussed was how to stand out, and we kept coming back to how important one's life story is.
Upon some pondering, I realized how accurate this is.
It is my story that makes me who I am.
Without my story, I'm just another student majoring in Math and CS.
But with my story, I'm the kid who had to move away from his parents for education, who lived on his own since middle school, the kid who was bullied by his people he called friends, the kid who unintentionally built a business, the kid who loves teaching, the kid who moved to a different country altogether for higher education, the kid who has been writing this newsletter every single week for over two years, the kid who's trying to live and build an intentional life, although he came from (almost) nothing.
Sahar encouraged me to own my story, to use it, and be proud of it.
My story is what makes me "me."
So I wrote my story.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. I'll see you next week.
Warmly,
Suraj