The story of one phenomenal teacher who became an entrepreneur…

After teaching for 10+ years in high school Biology, I was ready to take a big step in my personal life. I felt satisfied with where I am in my teaching career and content in what I had offered my students and community. In my classroom, I tried most if not all techniques possible to reach every single student and to make Science a meaningful and engaging experience. 

With my students, I was able to go to places I have never dreamt of, volunteering, servicing the community, exploring nature, and questioning everything in life! 

It was then that I was ready to transition from a family of three (my husband, myself, and my daughter), to a family of four! 

Surprise! I got pregnant with twins and the transition was now into a family of five. 

Working full time with twins for all 9 months was the least to be called challenging. It was not the physical or mental, or even emotional challenges that made me feel crippled. It was the lack of support. 

There is zero support in the system for working moms, moms of multiples, working educators, etc… ZERO is NONE!

I had my two blessings and worked through the pandemic for three months after giving birth to them.. Then I took maternity leave.. 

I planned for that… I was ready for it … I wanted to be home with my kids…

But I did not plan for what happened next!

By the time my twins turned one, I was looking forward to getting back into the classroom, and to start seeing my students’ smiling faces in the early morning, their excited sparkly eyes to learn about Science, and to reconnect with my colleagues and coworkers, my family…

I was excited until I realized that if I go back to teaching next year, I will be working for free! 

I will repeat that:

I was excited until I realized that if I go back to teaching next year, I will be working for free! 

Placing my twins in the most affordable daycare meant that I would be left with a negligible fraction of my paycheck.

I will be educating, exciting, raising, questioning, challenging, motivating other kids and will be absent from my kids breakfasts and nap times, absent from the first time they run or say a complete sentence, for… free.

The sad part is… many women do it.. 

Many women are forced to go back to work for minimal or no compensation.. Some do it as a personal choice to reconnect with others which is totally correct and fair, but most are forced to do it, to feel right and okay with themselves. How can I have a Masters degree? Tens years of teaching? Be a top teacher in my department and still have to stay home without pay for 2-3 years? And many other questions..

Unlike every other country; if not the vast majority of countries on earth where women are guaranteed a paid maternity leave, including developing countries, the system in America failed educated, skilled, and hardworking women like myself, and continues to do so every single day. 

Therefore I decided not to go back. At least for now..

The next morning, I started my own business.. Maraseel!

See as educators, this is what we do: remove the “im” out of the impossible and make it possible! 

At Maraseel I create and handcraft bilingual homemade greeting cards! And I love it! It is fulfilling, therapeutic, flexible, allows room for my creativity, connects people together, and it brings me revenue!

And I do it all as a mom of three! 

This is my first time blogging, I am writing for others who do not have a voice. I hope you find my story empowering to the voiceless moms, teachers, educators, and women who are forced to change their destiny every single day. 

“My first Biology teacher once told me: There is a poet in every Biologist.”

And this sums up my story: Biology, teaching, and the art of words. 

To be continued…  

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