I am thankful that I learned how to be an educator. Crazy as it seems, I am glad my background went from wanting to be a CEO of a large corporation and walking down Corporate America’s pathway in NYC from Wall Street to Midtown to Singapore and beyond to switching gears as a mom to be closer to home and teaching, teaching and LEARNING.

My first foray into being an educator was in September 2003. I was 26 (almost 27) and I had my first assignment to be an adjunct professor at my alma mater after years of trying. I was able to teach while also working near Wall Street and I was given a crash course in how to write on the black board (yep we still used chalk back then) and logistics about classroom management. Ha! I was clueless but quickly learned and fell in love with being “Professor.”

Learning how to create curriculum and course for both online and in person delivery changed the way I worked and lived my life. It is part of the lessons I continue to use as I build out online courses for my nonprofit — next one will be about managing transitioning to college after being a young adult with cancer.