Nasrat Esmaty

I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 27. When I was 7 yrs old, we fled to Pakistan, where I studied and finished high school. I taught ESL for four years from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, I started working as an HR/Admin person for International Medical Corps (IMC). In 2001, I found a job at the US Embassy in Kabul as Economic/Commercial Assistant and repatriated to Afghanistan . It was a challenging experience because it was too demanding and at the same time very risky considering Kabul’s situation.

It was a dream-come-true job as my section was helping Afghan businessmen and women and working on Afghanistan’s economy.

My job was an excellent one, but I couldn’t give up my goal for a job. Luckily, I got admission at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California and completed a degree in liberal arts in 2009. Post graduation, I got a job at Mount Madonna Center (MMC) in California in 2010 as a Field Officer. After working for a short time at MMC, I realized I could be of better service to my own Afghans, so I repatriated. I started working at Human Rights Research & Advocacy Consortium (HRRAC) as Communication Officer, Research Consultant and later on as its Deputy Director.

However, I always aspired to be a writer. I was lucky enough to come across a real life story and base my novel on it. I quit my job and am currently away working hard on promoting my novel. I have only taken a couple of writing assignments as a Writing/Publishing Consultant for a couple of international firms.

My hobbies are cricket, chess, event planning, working out/exercising, traveling and internet surfing. I speak Pashto, Dari, English, and Urdo and I understand Hindi, Punjabi, Hindku and a little bit of Arabic and Spanish.