As a professional singer and actor, I have had a total of 33 jobs in 17 years. I have worked at least 3 jobs or more simultaneously in addition to performing over the years. Each week, I will discuss one of my former or current jobs. My twenty-first job was an Arts & Literacy teaching artist for the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services.
Getting the Job
When I quit Trader Joe’s in July 2019, I began teaching English online with VIPKid and Cambly full-time. Unfortunately, the electricity went out for several days in Brooklyn when I started to teach online. So I decided to apply for after-school programs instead. I went to my friend’s coffee shop job and applied for about a hundred jobs.
The next day, I was contacted for an interview and asked to schedule a demo lesson. During the last week of the Arts & Literacy summer camp, I taught my demo music lesson to a group of students. After the demo lesson, I was given a job offer. For the 2019-2020 school year, I worked from 2pm until 6pm Mondays-Thursdays and 12p until 6pm on Fridays.
The Experience
The Arts & Literacy Program is offered for students in low income schools. It gives students access to the arts after-school everyday. I was the music teaching artist which could be challenging at times to make more interesting. I decided to use multiple art forms to make it more enjoyable for the students.
Every six weeks, the students would perform for their parents for Family Art Night. I was assigned to two schools P.S. 377 and P.S. 116. The first half of the afternoon, I worked at P.S. 116 and during the second half I walked over to work at P.S. 377.
Online Experience
Schools shut down in mid-March during the pandemic. I had no idea what this would do to my job. However, the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services came through. From March until June, I continued to have a job. We met with the students during after-school hours online instead of in-person. I was so grateful to continue to have a job. Furthermore, I liked working with less students on the music lessons virtually.
Leaving/Returning
In February 2020, I was hired as a full-time teacher-in- residence at Achievement First Crown Heights for the fall of 2020. I worked at the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services until June 2020. I quit the week before I started graduate school in July. In April 2022, I returned to the Coalition after quitting full-time teaching.
I stayed at the Coalition until November 2022. The second time that I worked at the Arts & Literacy Program, I only had to work at P.S. 116 everyday instead of two schools every afternoon. In November of 2022, I had four jobs and was feeling overwhelmed. I chose to quit Jazz at Lincoln Center and my after-school job. However, I should have kept at least one of these jobs because my catering jobs were reduced to nothing by January 2023. It seems that finding the balance has continued to be a challange for me even in 2024.
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Don’t give up
Keep going and you will reach your goal.