ABOUT ME

Hi, I’m Sona — part educator, part course architect, part coach. part chronic overthinker of how people actually learn.

I’ve spent two decades in classrooms, coaching sessions, and course-building software, doing the same thing in different outfits: figuring out why someone’s stuck, and building the thing that gets them unstuck.

4 Languages, Fluently

Over 17 Years Teaching

Coach at Heart

Consultant

Curriculum Designer

ABOUT ME

Hi, I’m Sona — part educator, part course architect, part coach. part chronic overthinker of how people actually learn.

I’ve spent two decades in classrooms, coaching sessions, and course-building software, doing the same thing in different outfits: figuring out why someone’s stuck, and building the thing that gets them unstuck.

4 Languages, Fluently

Over 17 Years Teaching

Coach at Heart

Consultant

Curriculum Designer

MY STORY

I Never Really Left the Classroom

I set out to teach English. I ended up studying how minds actually learn — which turned out to be the more useful skill. Years of teaching across cultures and languages taught me fast: there's no universal learner. What lands for one person misses another completely, and "engaging content" means nothing without design that accounts for that.


Coaching sharpened the lens further. The students who grew fastest weren't the ones with the cleanest grammar — they were the ones who stopped believing they couldn't. Once I got certified, that instinct finally had a name.


I'm also the kind of person who reads about psycholinguistics for fun and has opinions about quantum entanglement I can't fully defend. It's not unrelated — it's the same question, asked differently: what actually makes something click?

That's what I bring to every course: structure that respects how people actually learn, not just how content is supposed to be delivered.

WHAT I BRING

Instructional Design, With a Human Lens

Most instructional designers know the models. Fewer have designed for a room where no two learners share the same first language, or coached someone through the exact moment they wanted to quit. Here’s what that actually gives you.

Real Cross-Cultural Fluency

Years spent designing and delivering learning for classrooms where no two learners shared the same assumptions about how learning is supposed to work. Training built to land everywhere, not just on paper.

Hands-On Tool Fluency

Practical, in-the-trenches experience with Moodle, H5P, and Articulate Storyline — real courses shipped to real learners, not just theory sitting in a certificate.

A Coach’s Read on Resistance

Certified in relationship and life coaching — which means I design for the moment someone almost gives up, not just the moment they succeed.

Real Cross-Cultural Fluency

Years spent designing and delivering learning for classrooms where no two learners shared the same assumptions about how learning is supposed to work. Training built to land everywhere, not just on paper.

Hands-On Tool Fluency

Practical, in-the-trenches experience with Moodle, H5P, and Articulate Storyline — real courses shipped to real learners, not just theory sitting in a certificate.

A Coach’s Read on Resistance

Certified in relationship and life coaching — which means I design for the moment someone almost gives up, not just the moment they succeed.

A Few Things Worth Knowing About Me

Classrooms Across Cultures

TAP TO REVEAL

Coaching Changed How I Teach

TAP TO REVEAL

Needs Analysis, Always On

TAP TO REVEAL

Growth Is the Real Subject

TAP TO REVEAL

Classrooms Across Cultures

TAP TO REVEAL

Coaching Changed How I Teach

TAP TO REVEAL

Needs Analysis, Always On

TAP TO REVEAL

Growth Is the Real Subject

TAP TO REVEAL

CREDENTIALS

Certifications & Education

I don’t collect certificates for the wall. Each one filled a real gap I noticed in my own work — here’s some of the paper trail.

Instructional Design Foundations

E-Learning Instructional Design and Development Certificate · Oregon State University · 2021–2022

Micro-Master’s, Instructional Design and Technology · University of Maryland Global Campus · 2021–2022

Instructional Design Essentials: Models of ID · Professional Certification

Instructional Design: Needs Analysis · Professional Certification

Coaching & Human Behavior

Life Coaching Certificate · Case Western Reserve University · 2025

Master Relationship Coach · Professional Certification

Where the emotional side of learning finally got a framework.

Language & Education

Master’s Degree, TESL/ESL · Yerevan State University · 2004–2006

Bachelor’s Degree, English Language & Literature · Yerevan State University · 2000–2004

Where the obsession with language first took root.

Instructional Design Foundations

E-Learning Instructional Design and Development Certificate · Oregon State University · 2021–2022

Micro-Master’s, Instructional Design and Technology · University of Maryland Global Campus · 2021–2022

Instructional Design Essentials: Models of ID · Professional Certification

Instructional Design: Needs Analysis · Professional Certification

Coaching & Human Behavior

Life Coaching Certificate · Case Western Reserve University · 2025

Master Relationship Coach · Professional Certification

Where the emotional side of learning finally got a framework.

Language & Education

Master’s Degree, TESL/ESL · Yerevan State University · 2004–2006

Bachelor’s Degree, English Language & Literature · Yerevan State University · 2000–2004

Where the obsession with language first took root.

Instructional Design Foundations

E-Learning Instructional Design and Development Certificate · Oregon State University · 2021–2022

Micro-Master’s, Instructional Design and Technology · University of Maryland Global Campus · 2021–2022

Instructional Design Essentials: Models of ID · Professional Certification

Instructional Design: Needs Analysis · Professional Certification

Coaching & Human Behavior

Life Coaching Certificate · Case Western Reserve University · 2025

Master Relationship Coach · Professional Certification

Where the emotional side of learning finally got a framework.

Language & Education

Master’s Degree, TESL/ESL · Yerevan State University · 2004–2006

Bachelor’s Degree, English Language & Literature · Yerevan State University · 2000–2004

Where the obsession with language first took root.

“I design learning the way I coach people — with structure, patience, and genuine belief that everyone’s one clear explanation away from their next breakthrough.”

Let’s Build Something Together

✦ Sona Sarkiss

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