Shanti Gooljar recently received a $2,000 tip.
She runs a driving school in Manhattan that caters to high-end clients and works by referral only. She said she taught the descendants some names you might know.
Jerry Seinfeld. Rupert Murdoch. Vera Wang. Katie Couric.
She originally worked as a paramedic. But after two years, she decided she didn't like it and turned to driving school in the Bronx. Gooljar soon knew he had found his calling.
“I got really good at what I was doing,” she said. The teens she mentored identified with her innocent, no-nonsense style and soon began giving her phone number to their friends. So she bought her own car and became a freelancer. Gooljar, 62, founded his school in 2014.
“That was 10 years ago,” she said. “And now look at me.”
She owns Empire State Driving School on the Upper West Side and has five other instructors. Driver's license lessons can cost as much as $200 an hour, and she works eight hours a day, seven days a week.
Mr. Goolger lives in a three-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, close to where he lived when he immigrated from Guyana with his four siblings in 1972. After the birth of her sons, Philip, 43, and Michael, 38, she and her husband, Vinny Gooljar, upgraded from a studio to a ground-floor space next to the police station, where they now live on their own. . Mr Goulger, who was married for 43 years, died of a heart attack in 2022.
“After he passed away, my family wanted me to go to Florida. My mom is there, and I have brothers and sisters,” she said. “But I'm at an age where I like the same routine.”
I turn on autopilot and wake up at 5am. No alarm required. It's all in your head.
Depending on what time my first lesson is, I usually stop at Dunkin and get a small hot coffee with cream. I'm a regular at some of those stores. One on Webster Avenue in the Bronx and another near 122nd Street in Harlem. They all know me. Rather, I am letting them know who I am.
First Pickup The first lesson is often at 8am. We meet at clients' homes or come to our school in Lincoln Square. There are a lot of prep school students, but there are also older people. I am currently teaching a 94 year old!
I often take people around and through Harlem. I don't teach downtown, especially now with congestion pricing and I can't go anywhere.
BACK TO BACK I go straight to the next lesson at 10am. Typically, you will have four 2-hour lessons per day.
The key is to build confidence quickly. Driving in Manhattan is like driving anywhere. You have to know what you're doing. If the driver behind you is honking, move around and let them go.
I don't allow students to argue with me because I have more experience. I had never gotten a speeding ticket in 45 years of driving until I drove down the highway to my girlfriend's funeral in Virginia in September. The cop said I was 10 miles over the speed limit — really?!
Pit Stop Around 12:30pm, I get another coffee at Dunkin' and take a pee break. Sometimes I'll have a salad and then eat something when I get home. I don't eat much, but I need coffee.
Therapist Hour When I'm teaching these kids, I'm not just their driving instructor, I'm also their therapist. They tell me things they would never tell their own mother.
One of the girls I teach now, her boyfriend broke up with her last week. She is 27 years old. It's better to break up now than to wait until you're married. she is young she can move on. I know it's difficult when you've been with someone for a long time, but it's better to do it now than later.
Turn your head. But don't think I'm distracted. I'm so good at what I do that I can sit there and have a conversation while I grab the steering wheel out of your hands, stop the car, and move across all lanes to save you.
At this time of year, it gets dark around 4:30, so the last pick-up time is around 3:00 pm. I'm very proud of my accomplishments when it comes to taking road tests. You can count on one hand the number of people who failed last year.
The last lesson ends around 5pm and it's about a 30 minute drive home depending on where you finish.
Dinner Planning I often have dinner with my son, Philip, who lives in Connecticut. Sometimes we go to the City Island location, Original Crab Shanti, and eat lobster and crab.
Or sometimes I cook for him at home. I can cook really well. You can cook anything. He likes beef curry. Or if he's busy, I'll eat alone. If it's just me, I'll have oatmeal or cream of wheat for dinner. I love it. I will be very happy.
Please wash it off. I take a shower around 7 or 8 o'clock. I have always been, and always will be, a person who takes a shower at night. Especially when it's this cold, who wants to wake up at 5am and take a shower and get their hair all wet?
SADDLE UP I love “Yellowstone” starring Kevin Costner. Now that it's over, I don't know what to do next. His character's daughter, Beth – she's the bomb. I want to meet her. Maybe Kelly Reilly, who plays her, needs driving lessons.
Rinse and repeat I crawl into bed between 8 and 8:30. When Vinny was alive, we used to go places. Now I'm not going anywhere. My driving force is work. You wake up in the morning, go to work, take a shower, come home, eat dinner, wake up the next morning and go to work again.
I'm not ready to retire yet, but I'm laying the foundations. My son, Philip, is learning how to run a school: how to create a schedule, hire the right people, manage money, and pay the bills. I am proud to have hired great people and to have brought such a prestigious reputation to our school. That's the most important thing – getting great people working for you.
Go to bed early I go to bed at 8:30. I have to be ready to leave at 5am for another full day of lessons.
