Today we’d like to introduce you to Elena Agaragimova.
Hi Elena , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I actually wanted to be a teacher growing up, so naturally, I leaned towards education field, so I’ve started my career in higher education. After a few years in the industry – wearing multiple hats – recruitment, mentorship programs, academic advising, I realized that I enjoyed working with students but it wasn’t dynamic enough for me. I wanted to be in a faster moving industry, I wanted to create, build, and experiment – so I moved into corporate space. I pivoted my career towards being a trainer / career coach and over the years, I’ve had the absolutely honor to work with hundreds (if not thousands of people) on their career development, up-skilling, and professional development. Along the way, I’ve had the luck to get into talent development and talent management – working with companies who want to grow their talent and drive high performance. Throughout the years in this space, I’ve observed a lot of things and realized that there are challenges that I can solve and being a creator and builder – I decided to dive into entrepreneurship. I was fortunate to meet some amazing people along the way who equally wanted to build and create real solutions for real problems in our space and hence Shiftwell.ai was born (there were a couple of others ventures before this one).
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think it’s ever a smooth road when you are creating and building something, whether it’s a career or business. We are now in a world where growth looks more like a squiggly line than a straight line. Anything worth pursuing will challenge you mentally, physically, and sometimes spiritually.
Early on, my biggest challenge was that I had the energy and passion to build and create, but not the experience or the reality check of what it’s like to believe in something that sometimes only you believe in. As I experimented with different side hustles and businesses, I developed the skills and relationships I needed, but also grit and perseverance. I learned things the hard way—and interestingly enough, the hardest part wasn’t the business itself. It was learning to manage my ego, accept that I didn’t know what I didn’t know, that I couldn’t do it alone, and that self-awareness is a huge part of this journey. Without self-awareness, it’s very difficult to accomplish anything great.
On a more practical level, I also struggled with understanding how sales actually work, how to hire the right people or find the right partners, when to pivot and when to let go, and how to manage personal relationships while pouring my heart into something I believed in.
Looking back now—or so far—there’s no easy way to get there. It just takes time. You have to go through the process to understand how it works.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Shiftwell.ai?
Shiftwell is the recent venture that I’ve had the pleasure of creating and building with my two co-founders. This would not be possible without their experience, expertise, and just absolute passion for what we are solving for. At Shiftwell, we want to help people do better with less. We do this by helping organizations reduce operational and personal friction. Give their people the insights and tools to help themselves—and watch performance soar.
We are really excited to actually offer something that gets to the root of what drives human performance – this is for individuals and organizations alike. Organizations only exist because of the people who do the work. We want to help those people be at their best – by tapping into core elements that drive us as human beings – mindset, health, environment, career, relationships, and purpose. Somewhere along the way, the world of work forgot that we need to get back to the humans at work in order for us to thrive today and in the future. It all starts with the individuals. We don’t believe in putting bandaids on broken legs. We get to the root cause of friction with our proprietary assessment and equip people with personalized insights and AI-powered support to eliminate it. We partner with forward-thinking organizations that invest in their people and want to stay ahead of the curve.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
2 part lesson.
1. Self-awareness – understand how to manage health and mindset was a huge lesson (having hit burnout twice!) and understanding how to manage my ego, being a high performer and achievement focused, I tend to move fast, and sometimes too fast to observe what’s happening with my team, partners, etc.
2. The goal of all of this is to add value – to add value to my customers, my partners, anyone I come across. That is what this is all about. If I am not adding value, my navigator is off and I need to pause and reflect.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shiftwell.ai/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elenaagaragimova/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elenaagaragimova
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaagaragimova/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/elenaagaragimova
- Other: https://elenaagar.com/
