UNITED STATES, September 29, 2020 – Parenting Herald
Tell us a little bit about yourself and Powerful Prep. I am the founder of Powerful Prep, a leading concierge tutoring firm, dedicated to transparency, massive point gains, and customized curriculum, and an expert in test-prep, test-taking, and the pre-college process.
I have also published three books on test prep. You can read more about my personal tutoring program at Matthew Larriva – Premier SAT/ACT Tutoring. In 2009, I graduated from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Business Economics and a concentration in Real Estate. Unfortunately, when I graduated, no one was hiring in the Real Estate space. I broadened my search slightly and ended up as a trader in Chicago.
I covered the European shift. Those markets are open from about midnight to 7AM, Chicago time. Getting out of work at 7AM means you’re awake until about 2PM, and then sleep to 11PM. I like to stay busy, so I decided I’d get a second job to fill my time.
I found an ad from Kaplan Test Prep on Craigslist for ACT tutors. I applied and got the job. For the next couple of years, I traded bonds during the graveyard shift and taught ACT test-prep during the day.
In 2011, my mother got sick, so I moved back to Southern California. I applied to work at a Kaplan satellite office in LA, but I was working during the day in the finance group of a geo-location start-up, so I couldn’t make the schedule work. I still loved teaching and had that need to fill my nights and weekends with something productive, so I decided I’d start my own company.
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