Her Story
About Zuleika
I've been in education for almost [AGE] years, and it's been wonderful and really rewarding. I think it's helped me to grow as a person personally and helped me consider other people's perspectives and really look at things from different lenses. I was inspired to go into education because of my cousin - he and I grew up together and went through the same school system, but unfortunately the school system did not treat him the way it treated me, and so I decided it was my mission to help and support children that look like him. I started off as a substitute teacher at a middle school - I was a special ed integrated teacher substitute, which was interesting because I was [AGE] and actually closer in age to my students than I was to some of my colleagues. Then I moved into being a kindergarten teacher for 8 years, and my classroom was the co-teach classroom because I'm dually certified, but I was the regular education side of things, or the general education side of things. From there, I moved on to become the assistant principal of the very same middle school that I was a substitute teacher at. Then I became the supervisor for English as a new language, and then I became the principal of an elementary school, and now I'm the director of early childhood. The thing I'm most proud of is that I was the principal of an elementary school in the city of Albany that was deemed one of the bottom-performing schools in the state, and I was able to lead the school through transformation so that they became a school in good standing and continue to be, because that's the legacy you want to have - a school continuously showing growth and improvement with New York State assessments.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Zuleika
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to, first and foremost, my mom. She was an immigrant, and she moved up the ranks in New York City government, and she was a supervisor in one of New York City's departments, and so she was just a really hard-working, great role model for me. I also think I attribute my success to having a lot of teachers who cared about my success and made it a point to provide me with opportunities to expand my experiences. And then lastly, I think my immediate family. I always say, you know, my husband and my two daughters inspire me to be the best that I can be every day.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think the best career advice I ever received, I have two of them. One was, always make sure you know who's making the snowballs, not just who's throwing them. And the other one is, hire well, because it's hard to let people go.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I am in a women-dominated field, education is, right? However, even with that being said, it is really interesting to me that on the administrative level, we're not as dominant as we are at the classroom level. And so I would encourage women to take that step into leadership, because as rewarding as a classroom could be, or can be, and it is, there is something to be said about spreading how rewarding and meaningful it is to spread that influence and have a wider reach. I think oftentimes, we as women, we may not be necessarily encouraged to take that extra step towards leadership and education.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest thing has to do with, I feel like all of a sudden, folks are more suspicious of us and think that we have agendas, that we're trying to indoctrinate children, and I think that's a big obstacle. Which is really unfortunate, because one of the things that we pride ourselves in education is being able to separate our own political ideology from what our professional responsibilities are. But somehow I think that that has been permeated through the media that perhaps we have an agenda. I also think that sometimes folks believe that we can do more than we can. As the roles of school has expanded, I think we've blurred the lines as well. So I think those are probably the biggest challenges. And I'm in New York, where teachers are paid well, but I know across the country, that is not the case.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think the value of equity or opportunities, I really strive to ensure that our underserved population are able to get the same opportunities that others receive, and so, for me, I've always operated from the lens of what are the things that children need to be successful. Because this is just their one and only childhood, and we all know how important it is, how important that foundation is to later success.
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