Her Story
About Yameira
Yameira Church serves as a 5th grade teacher and Positive Behavior Coach in Chicago, Illinois, where her specialty is education with a focus on education law and education policy. She started her academic journey at a community college, advanced to Southern Illinois Carbondale where she held leadership positions in student government as a student dean and senator, then pursued grad school and completed a principal fellowship with the Illinois State Board of Education. Church is a member of the Illinois Association of English Teachers, Leader Ethics, and is an SIU President Scholar. Among her professional achievements, she established Civil Discourse Day with Governor Tony Evers in Wisconsin and had an article published through Leader Ethics in June. She also volunteers as a poll worker and judge for the city of Chicago, advises student council and leadership clubs in Cicero, and participates in the Chicago White Sox Corps and the Arthritis Foundation of America.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Yameira
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think the best career advice I've ever received is to just have tunnel vision for you. Your path and your friend's path, or family member's path, It's so uniquely you. And no one can do what you can do. There is only one spot in the universe for your skills and your talents, so just start.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't get wrapped up in cents and dollars. It's really easy to compare your money and your salary, but I promise you, like, if you're always working in your passion, and you're always working with integrity, the money will follow you.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in the field right now is that we're seeing a big shift in teachers needing credentials for special education, as well as teaching English language learners. However, the school boards and the governments and the people who are in charge of the finances and budgets for educators They're not giving the educators money for these trainings and credentials, and then we're seeing mass layoffs for these teachers who don't have these credentials.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think integrity is really big. Integrity, because you need to be consistent, and you need to be honest, and people need to be able to count on your characteristics for the situation. So whenever that your name is called, people need to know that they can count on you for whatever they called you for. Also, important to just really, really be resilient. Because education, and not just education, but the world is changing so fast, and it's easy to give up, but there's no time for that.
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