Ideas into Learning
Instructional Designer & Training Consultant
Ideas into Learning
Instructional Designer & Training Consultant
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
A Few Things Worth Knowing About Me
Coaching Changed How I Teach
TAP TO REVEAL
Classrooms Across Cultures
TAP TO REVEAL
Growth Is the Real Subject
TAP TO REVEAL
Needs Analysis, Always On
TAP TO REVEAL
Coaching Changed How I Teach
TAP TO REVEAL
Classrooms Across Cultures
TAP TO REVEAL
Growth Is the Real Subject
TAP TO REVEAL
Needs Analysis, Always On
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 and 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.
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
Instructional Design Foundations
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.
Language and Education
Coaching and 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.
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
Instructional Design Foundations
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.
Language and Education
Coaching and 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.
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
Instructional Design Foundations
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.
Language and Education
Coaching and 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.
Certified in relationship and life coaching — which means I design for the moment someone almost gives up, not just the moment they succeed.
A Coach’s Read on Resistance
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
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
Language & Education
Coaching & Human Behavior
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.
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.
Life Coaching Certificate · Case Western Reserve University · 2025
Master Relationship Coach · Professional Certification
Where the emotional side of learning finally got a framework.
“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