Humans of Kent: Tansulu Turdaliyeva, Training Co-ordinator, Kazakhstan

Dance your way through life

With a loving household and a family of teachers, I had the happiest childhood – we were a small knit family of five including my two elder sisters and lived in a small apartment in Kazakhstan. It was crowded in such a small space, but it was more than enough. There are times I re-live those seemingly mundane days in my mind and smile wide. As a family, we would stand by each other during hard times, we were able to talk about our feelings, felt a sense of belonging, felt extremely supported, safe and protected. I think the time we spent together would never be enough.

I had always wanted to study abroad and experience more of the world outside my comfort zone, hence, I set myself a goal from a young age to focus on becoming well-versed in English language and move abroad to complete graduation from a well-reputed university in England. As life would have it, things didn’t go as planned…

We are continually reminded that death is an inevitability of life. We are told this innumerable times again and again – That if there is anything for certain, it is death. We are reminded of it in every life quote or proverb that we come across. I guess those words of wisdom failed in informing how death would plague a then 16-year-old me especially when it was my mother that was taken away. My mother was diagnosed with throat cancer and passed away a year later. Losing her made me question everything about life – it showed me how fragile life is, and how we take the moments with our loved ones for granted… how innocent to think that they’re going to be here forever. With my sisters being married off, I was my father’s only support system. I chose to give up on my life-long dream of studying in a university abroad and stayed with my father as we took care of each other. This pivotal phase of my life made me prioritize what’s of uttermost importance – the people close to you, in your world.

I graduated as an English teacher from Atyrau State University. From helping a small business to provide English courses for different age groups, I moved on to being a Training Administrator in a legal bureau where I fell in love with Training & Development. I saw the importance of T&D in gaining and retaining top talent within the company while increasing employee productivity. My love for T&D grew over the years when I was working in TCO as an administrative assistant, and finally landed a job that sparked something inside me – Training Coordinator at Kent. This is where I learned that an empowered T&D team brings passion for learning for all people, no matter what stage they are at and as a team, we foster the belief that if you can engage in learning that’s helpful to you in your personal life and also meets your professional needs, you are more likely to be engaged at work and find greater personal opportunities too. It’s a win-win. I think it helps that I have a team that’s highly motivated to be better – they’re goal oriented and keen to make a difference, but also deeply care about each other’s wellbeing.

I’ve always had a creative energy and I tend to extend the same energy in all I do, but my most important outlet is dancing. While growing up, I wanted to be a performer like Britney Spears. How mesmerizing to witness someone being immersed in what they love. Dancing is a full body workout that burns a ton of fuel and the music often makes your feet tap on their own. I’m just here, dancing my way through life, through the ups and downs. Happy? Sad? Angry? Let the emotions release and flow – dance it away. That’s my mantra.

To any new joiner, I’d like to say – you’re in good hands. Dance away your fears! Don’t be shy to show what you’ve got, you’re so much more than what you make yourself out to be. At Kent, you get the opportunities to grow and become a better version of yourself. Show em’ what you’ve got! Conquer your challenges of Public Speaking or Communication or anything you find difficulty in with our Experience Learning Platform – Percipio to help you through, I can attest to that as it’s helped me with mine.

Humans of Kent brings such a humane face to Kent, we get to learn about stories of the people that make up this company – people who bring their best foot forward at work, the dance of their personal trials and tribulations and the strength with which they’ve faced their beautiful life.