Testimonials

Sofia has been providing leadership training for our management teams (Managers and Principals) for a few years now with tremendous success. She effectively tailors the training to the needs of the group, and while I think her advice is universal, her firsthand experience in our industry (Public Practice Accounting) adds credibility to the practical suggestions she provides. She often discusses the power of ‘micro-changes’ to make cumulative effects, and I have seen firsthand the positive ripple effect of these changes throughout our firm. I can’t count the number of times I have heard people refer to something they learned in her training, and I think we all occasionally hear Sofia’s voice in our head gently nudging us towards behaviors that make us more empathetic and effective leaders. I highly recommend Sofia and Upskill Consulting.

Sofia is an amazing communicator and so strong in everything HR related. As our company grows, having a fractional HR professional help us navigate team dynamics, communication, and develop internal resources to improve corporate culture is imperative. Upskill Consulting understands the challenges that small businesses face and provides tangible and practical solutions that resonate with both management and team.

Sofia of Upskill Consulting has been delivering training to our team for the past two years and we are currently in conversations of engaging her for the third consecutive year.

Sofia’s human resources background in public practice is extremely valuable to us as an accounting Firm since she is able to relate to the challenges of Public Practice. She can provide our team with real life examples of issues that she has seen over the years and is able to provide solutions.

Sofia has provided training to our newly designated Senior Accountants and to our leadership team in the following areas: Coaching, Mentoring, Conflict Resolution, Constructive Feedback and Communication Styles.

Sofia has an exceptional rapport with the team who enjoy her presentation style and the energy she brings to her facilitation.

We look forward to working with Upskill Consulting for many years to come.

I have been working with Sofia for almost a year now and have been able to overcome many hurdles with her valuable insight. If you are feeling overwhelmed and your business is spilling into your personal life then Sofia will be an asset full of positive solutions. She has been instrumental in helping me:

• Gain confidence in my communication skills with my staff and customers, so I can develop and better rapport
• Learn organizational skills so my staff are able to take on more of the workload instead of feeling like I have to do it all myself
• Develop problem-solving techniques so I can face issues that arise head-on, rather than avoiding the issues and hiding my head in the sand

In doing so I have been able to get my staff doing more of the day-to-day transactions, my customers are now getting more hands-on care without me adding more time to my workload, and I can focus more of my time on running the business. This has been a HUGE WIN for me.

Avisar worked with Sofia in 2020 both as a professional development presenter and a staff development consultant. As a presenter, Sofia is engaging and thoughtful and she makes you feel as though she has put hours of effort into ensuring that her content is relevant to her attendees. She has a lighthearted presentation style and a friendly demeanour; both of which make it very easy for individuals to feel comfortable sharing real-world examples and asking for assistance or advice.

The key takeaways that Sofia shared in her sessions with our team this year have given us the skills to provide effective feedback, nurture and grow our mentoring relationships and lead our team in a virtual environment. As a consultant, we worked with Sofia this year to develop core competencies for each of our staffing levels. Her insight into identifying the softer skills required for our team to develop and grow into their full potential was a key factor in building this foundational document for our staff.

By all accounts, Sofia was a pleasure to work with. Her communication was timely and clear, she solicited feedback at every stage of the process and her invoices were exactly what she said they would be. Personally, I have enjoyed all of my interactions with Sofia and I am looking forward to our next opportunity to work together.

Sofia at Upskill Consulting has undertaken a few projects for DMCL in the last year. Our firm was able to deliver two soft skills training sessions for our leadership team, roll out an employee engagement survey and we are in the process of developing a training and development strategy. Sofia’s ability to focus on the core objectives of each project, gather the supporting information, design and deliver the materials and leverage her experience to steer DMCL in the right direction has been invaluable to us. The feedback on Sofia’s delivery of training has been very positive. She is a very strong presenter, had great interaction with the participants and the overall training (materials, content, presentation) was well-received by the audience. DMCL couldn’t have had a more professional, thorough, knowledgeable, organized consultant to help us achieve our goals. Sofia was able to quickly grasp what our firm wanted to accomplish and was very adaptable in tailoring our projects to meet the firm’s specific needs and processes. I have no hesitation in recommending her services to others!

Myself and my fellow executive team members have been working with Sofia (Upskill Consulting’s Principal) in a leadership training series over the past several months. The experience has been transformative both at an individual and team level. Her experience is evident. She reaches each of us at our individual needs and connects our learning back to the team. What’s so unique is how she has tailored the workshops and coaching to our specific team and business. With Sofia’s education and guidance, we are growing and evolving into the leaders our business needs today and in the future. I highly recommend Sofia Arisheh and encourage others, both companies and individuals, to work with her.

Sofia has provided our team with very professional documents and programs that have been instrumental in getting our HR department fully functional. She is such a pleasure to work with!

Highly recommend Sofia and her team at Upskill Consulting. The service was excellent, prompt, professional and detailed. They took our on boarding process to the next level and it was as seamless and simple as we could’ve hoped. The turnaround time was phenomenal and we felt listened to from start to finish. An investment in our business that will yield excellent returns!

We hired Sofia at Upskill Consulting to review and strengthen our training workshops, specifically with the goal of enhancing the learner experience. She conducted an extensive review of our training design and provided detailed and comprehensive solutions. After implementing her proposed solutions, we have elevated our training, resulting in a more robust and enriching learner experience. Sofia’s depth of knowledge and friendly, responsive approach was a key component of our success in this area. She comes with extensive experience in learning and development and showcased her expertise in her ability to analyze our gaps, identify customized and creative solutions and guide us in implementing respective changes. We would highly recommend Sofia and Upskill Consulting for anyone in need of taking their training programs to the next level.

We are a relatively small organization with a diverse group of employees. As our operations grew, our Policies and Procedures (P&P) manual became outdated and misaligned to current organizational practices. As a small organization, we did not have the time nor subject matter expertise required to undertake this project. Therefore, we partnered with Sofia Arisheh from Upskill Consulting to revamp and roll out our policies in multiple jurisdictions. Sofia Arisheh was able to do a thorough needs assessment and lay out an appropriate approach to update and supplement all of our P&P. In addition, Sofia recognized that several key policies were not present but required/recommended to align with business practices and comply with respective legislation. We were also provided with a comprehensive internal communication policy for executive buy-in and employee roll-out. Dealing with HR matters effectively can be difficult at the best of times and even more difficult in a small organization where there isn’t a dedicated HR professional. Sofia/Upskill was very professional in all of our dealings, kept us on track throughout the process and provided high quality deliverables on time. The experience with Upskill was excellent from start to finish. Sofia is very professional and really knows what she is doing. She put us at ease throughout the project. We would recommend Sofia Arisheh and Upskill Consulting without hesitation.