Her Story
About Naya
I work for Elwyn as an Admissions Coordinator, a position I've held since January 3rd, 2023. The school I work at is strictly for students with special needs, and I'm helping students that have autism, intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and other disabilities. I feel like I'm contributing to society within this field, especially helping black and brown kids that need help. My main areas of expertise are relationship building and being able to provide direct care to children that have special needs. I also have a value that involves stewardship, and I'm able to contribute to the special education environment because it's something I've been drawn to over time and been passionate about. My path to this field wasn't direct. I pivoted from my business degree to special education, something I kind of fell into and discovered a passion for. It took me a while to find my niche, but I'm here now, and this is my career. I want to stay in the education industry.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Naya
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say my family, because I feel like I have a thorough support system. My parents are married and elderly now, and I have two older sisters, one older brother, and I'm the baby, the youngest. In addition to that, my brother has kids and grandkids, and my sister and brother-in-law have kids, so I have a bunch of nieces and nephews as well. My family is pretty big, but they've all always been supportive, whether it's been helping me emotionally and mentally, or helping me financially. I feel like I wouldn't be in the place that I am now if it wasn't for the familial support.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Definitely learn how to push yourself out there, and I say that because I'm an introvert, and I know there are some women who are introverted like myself. I would definitely say try to make an effort to build confidence to be able to put yourself out there and to be able to effectively market yourself. I feel like for myself, it took me a little bit longer to get into the different roles that I've had, because I feel like I didn't have the confidence that it took with regard to being able to look inward and build my own self-esteem and not look for other people to validate me. So definitely at a young age, I just feel like women should try to develop more self-development for themselves, to be able to navigate the career and the life that you want.
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