The Early Story

Born and raised in South Korea, I moved to the US in 2010 to attend the University of Notre Dame.

Emerging from what is arguably the best and most competitive boarding school in Korea, I was confident in my academic abilities and prepared to excel in college. However, I quickly realized the need to significantly improve two most crucial skills: English writing and speaking.

Before college, I had never lived in an English-speaking country. As a result, my writing and speaking abilities were not as strong as they needed to be.

The challenges were more severe than I anticipated. During exams, I sometimes misunderstood questions, leading to incorrect answers. My peers often mistook me for being extremely quiet, but in reality, I was silent because I struggled to express my thoughts in English.

So I made desperate efforts to enhance my communication skills: I went to office hours every week just to practice speaking with professors (they were all so nice), spent countless hours in the university writing center, and tried to hang out with American peers to immerse myself in the language and culture.

The First Job After College

Believe it or not, my first full-time job post-graduation was as a consultant, a role heavily reliant on writing and speaking skills (+ some analytical skills).

Over two years of working alongside skilled professionals, I observed that high performers in our organization were not just competent in their roles but were also exceptional writers and speakers.

Their ability to communicate effectively distinguished them among the 250,000+ employees in our firm. I learned that how well you communicate is just as important as how technically qualified you are for your position.

Going To Harvard

I was fortunate to study Data Science at Harvard from 2018 to 2020. While it’s quite obvious that everyone in our program was brilliant, very few who truly stood out among the 38 students in our program were the ones with outstanding communication skills. They could articulate their ideas in well-written papers and deliver compelling presentations.

This experience further solidified my understanding: while coding and quantitative skills are essential, writing and speaking are the most fundamental skills that one should continually develop throughout life.

Why I’m Teaching Writing And Discussion

When it comes to improving my writing and discussion skills, I started from the bottom. It was a bumpy road since I did not get a proper education in those areas before college.

In fact, I shed tears a few times feeling helpless and regretting that I didn’t prepare enough for college in the US. I sincerely hope to save you from facing the same challenges that I encountered in college.

Going through these experiences, I realized the importance of starting early in developing writing and discussion skills.

As much as I struggled to refine those, I gained so many invaluable insights and tips along the way. Not to mention that I understand all your pains to enhance your writing and speaking skills.

In this newsletter, I’ll share all of my tips and insights to help you greatly improve your writing and speaking skills.

More information about our services can be found on this website.