98: Shireen Jaffer on her journey from Pakistan to the US at age 7, the duality she experienced growing up in Palo Alto, transforming education

People are the Answer

Show notes:

In this episode, Shireen and Jeffrey discuss her journey from Pakistan to the US at age 7 and the incredible sacrifices her parents made to make it possible. We also cover the duality she experienced growing up in Palo Alto, the variety of jobs she worked from ages 12-18, when she realized what’s valuable in life vs. in our educational system, transforming education, and much more

Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/-y4xdKbGgSY

Learn more:

Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker

Producer: Kait Grey

Editor: Nick Case

Recording date: 5/23/24

Shireen:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shireenjaffer/

https://www.instagram.com/shireenjaffer_/

Skillify:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/skillify/

https://www.skillifynow.com/

https://www.instagram.com/skillifynow/

https://www.facebook.com/Skillify/

https://twitter.com/skillify

Other resources:

https://cosmosinstitute.substack.com/

Bio:

I'm a people-obsessed product builder based in San Francisco. I was born in Pakistan, won the luck lottery at age 7 and immigrated to Palo Alto, where I was bred to solve real world problems and build my first business at 17.

While attending USC full-time, I bootstrapped my first company Skillify to challenge our societal obsession with college and helped 150,000 high school students get real world exposure via internships and mentors. I focused on impact and profitability from day 1 and scaled Skillify programs to 220 schools by the time I graduated three years later. I'm so proud to have helped hundreds of thousands of students discover what they love, and be recognized as Forbes 30 under 30 for work I love doing.

The longer story? I can tell you live - say hi at [e-mail]

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

1:42 - What Motivates you?

3:46 - Immigrating

13:06 - Early Life in US

19:08 - Education

25:50 - Skillify

31:02 - Changing People's Lives

44:03 - Life After Skillify

1:10:20 - Education, Vocation

1:16:58 - Most Grateful for

1:18:02 - Snap Your Fingers