Her Story
About Adassa
I've always known I wanted to be a teacher since I was young. My mom has been a teacher from before I was born, and she inspired my career path. I loved working with children and knew that no matter what challenges I faced, I would become a teacher when I grew up. I was born in Guyana, South America, and when I came to the United States, I didn't have the legal documents I needed to start college. I'm an immigrant who strives for success. I couldn't go to college in my earlier years, but I always worked in the school system as a janitor, tutor, and teacher's assistant. When I was a nanny, I became very familiar with the school system, and the principal and I became friends. She told me if I really wanted to work in a school, she could help me. She guided me on how to get my tax ID and how I could work without a green card. I worked in the school system like that for two and a half years, and when I got my legal documents to work in the United States, she encouraged me to go back to school. I started college at age 26. I started out in community college, then got a full scholarship to go to a four-year institution. When I graduated with my bachelor's degree, I got a partial scholarship to do my graduate degree. I have my master's, and I'm currently working on my PhD to become a principal. I've always worked in low-income communities because I'm coming from a low-income family, and I always wanted to give back to the communities that I work in or belong to. After COVID, when we went back to school, a lot of my students were absent. For my students, it wasn't internet, it was transportation. My purpose as a teacher is to teach children, and if they're not there, how can we teach? I started taking kids in my own personal car, but they were destroying my vehicle. My husband suggested we look for a bigger van so I could take these kids to school. We bought a van, I did a course, and I got my business registered with the state of New Jersey. This is our fourth year, and we've supported over 190 students. I do the morning pickup and drops to school, and my husband gets off work and does the afternoon pickup and takes them home. My main responsibilities for transportation include safety, making sure my babies are safe. For teaching, my main responsibilities are leading, writing curriculum, instructing, and coaching teachers through observing, giving feedback, and coaching. I currently teach 7th graders. When I got these students at the start of the school year, 80% of them were on a kindergarten level. Now we're in test prep season, and they are at 4th and 5th grade level. I'm very intentional with my lessons and try to meet the students where they are academically, and I get the results that I set out to get.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Adassa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I'm self-motivated. I've always had an inner drive to succeed despite the challenges I've faced. Even when I didn't have the legal documents to go to college in my earlier years, I kept working in the school system in whatever capacity I could, whether as a janitor, tutor, or teacher's assistant. I never stopped pursuing my goal of becoming a teacher. I'm an immigrant who strives for success, and I've always pushed forward no matter what obstacles were in my way.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Just have a plan and stick to it. That's the advice that has guided my career and helped me stay focused on my goals even when facing significant obstacles.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Never stop, keep going. No matter what challenges you face or what obstacles are in your way, you have to keep pushing forward and pursuing your goals.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges in my field right now are the naysayers, the ones looking from outside, and the judgments. There are people who are always negative, the Debbie Downers, who try to deflate you. You have to sidestep those people and not let them bring you down.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values closest to my heart are excellence and radical love. Radical love means loving unconditionally in every aspect of my life. Excellence is something I actually struggled with for a long time. I never looked at myself as being excellent because of my culture and my Caribbean upbringing. My parents are amazing, but we were never told 'I'm proud of you' or 'you're doing a great job' or 'I see you trying your best.' It stuck with me. I think it started changing once I became a mom, because I have 3 kids. I started changing the narrative and telling my children the things that my parents didn't tell me that I wanted to hear. Now I recognize excellence in myself and others.
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