This post was written back in 2015 and was originally available on VIVA Teachers and EdPost, but it looks like it's no longer on either. I'm re-posting here for nostalgia and posterity.

Prior to becoming a special education teacher in the Bronx through NYC Teaching Fellows, I was a novitiate store manager at a Trader Joe’s in Queens. I was only there 10 months before I moved on to the classroom, but I learned a lot about warm service to others, hard work, and leadership by example that I continue to apply in my work each day with children and their families.