M I S S I O N S T A T E M E N T
Cover Letter
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My name is Kayla Joy and I’m an experienced educator, web designer, writer, editor, fashion-enthusist, plant-protector, and programmer, with an adventure-driven sprit, a passion for sustainability, and a calling to help inspire others to pursue their innate gifts and make a positive impact in the world.
After graduating from UCLA with a degree in Sociology and Anthropology, I got straight to work in education, at an incredibly progressive elementary school. Having never considered being a teacher until my "Teacher for America" interview, I was surprised that I found myself thriving in the educational setting----working with children come very naturally for me, and I easily fit into any role thrown my way. I did it all, covering everything from substitution of Physical Education, Art or Science, to organizing a tutoring/homework program for after-school daycare, resource management for the K-6th grade classrooms, teaching my own sections of accelerated math and technology, and eventually, having a large helping hand in running the Summer Institute for Kids each year, leading all the way to my very own preschool class. My deeper, underlying personal goal of shifting the consciousness of the planet in terms of sustainability, [digital] citizenship, and being more self-aware, kind, and caring humans, was integrated seemlessly, as this generation is innately more considerate and aware of these topics and global issues, in large part due to the rise of technology and being the iGeneration in this digital age.
I have been fortunate enough to teach across all grade levels, pre-K through high school, and there is a clear common connection between all students, and that is the role of technology as a part of their every day lives. We now have the world at our fingertips. Information in the palm of our hand, and what used to take hours with a trip to library, or days and weeks to transmit information across the world, can now be done within seconds. In such a rapidly changing world, the education system has remained static, and I have seen the power, and the problems, that permeate the educational system, not only here in the States, but globally. The traditional system has become outdated, and it is undoubtedly obvious that a shift needs to occur, to help solve problems we are facing, both in and out of the classroom. With that being said, I feel strongly that the integration of technology into education will perpetuate that shift.
In fact, it has already begun; my students are more independent, entrepreneurial, and unafraid to challenge old notions. These are the children who are raising the questions, looking at the views of the world, and asking how can we change things? If you have a problem, we'll make an app for that. Outdated laws and viewpoints, let’s challenge them. The sociological role of technology on the changing the world is something I care deeply about, as I see the power it has in shaping the future. Never before have the 6.7 billion people of the world been able to connect within seconds due to the World Wide Web, and now we have an entire generation of innovative thinkers who understand this technology on an intuitive level. As for me, I feel as though it is important to continue my own personal education in the digital world, in order to bring it to connect it appropriately to the educational setting.
Because, it's not just technology, it the intention behind it. If we were able to get students more connected to themselves and each other, this would give them the opportunity to share their passions, talents, voices and ideas on the world wide web. Magic can happen within a community of a couple billion people. As students become comfortable with technology, they are given a space to create, cultivate, curate, refine, and share the vision they have, we may see a world of individuals, each with their own unique special gifts, come together for the first time, to generate something great, weird, special, inspiring, and authentically human in this digital age. Each student will be making thier mark, carving out thier own little piece of this world (wide web), getting one step closer to a more dreative, open, accepting, considerate, sustainable, brighter, and more connected future.
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“Educating the mind without educating the heart, is no education at all.” -Aristotle
While I caught my teacher spark early on in my post-graduate career, the digital component didn't fall into place until 2014, when I gave up the safety net of my set, educational career in Los Angeles, and took off to live life for a living... While many called it crazy, I had an insatiable instinct to move, and yes, it was unconventional, but that risk ended up being one of the scariest, yet incredibly monumental decisions of my life. I took off, headed 3,000 miles across the country to try my chances in New York City. Here, for the first time, I began to explore my other interests: the world of web development, emergering tech companies and new digital platforms, writing, designing, and tapping into my creative center, which all came together as I developed a lifestyle website with a friend---Genevieve & Joy.
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Just like education, aesthetics and design came very naturally to me, and I have always been very creative when it came to the computer (like being able to figure out how to make the perfect graphic for a t-shirt, as fashion has also been a big part of who I am). I have been designing and creating projects as far back as grade school, but none of those ideas went from rough draft to reality until a colleague and I launched, Genevieve & Joy.
G&J was a uniquely designed lifestyle website setup in the format of a weekly planner. It’s goal was to reach the modern woman, anyone from age 16 to 60, and encourage small daily changes to help create a better, more fulfilling lifestyle.
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G&J was more than a blog, it was also the launching of a business, much bigger than anything we anticipated. The two of us did everything ourselves: researching trends, writing content, photographing and editing seven days a week; continuously working on brand development; managing our social media channels and e-mail subscriptions; promoting the brand through networking and collaborations while keeping up with community engagement, both digitally and locally. We were working with everyone from international retailers, while also being contacted to promoted local and internet businesses on our site, we were managing legalities to protect our ideas, and in non-stop business and brainstorm meetings. The website updated daily, meaning we had a never-ending list day-to-day responsibilities, leaving us highly efficient in terms of time management, flexibility, and the ability to be creative on a deadline, but unsustainable in sanity, as the two of us could not keep up with the supply and demand.
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After a year of playing it big time in the Big Apple, we decided to close the door on G&J, which left me standing in a new, open door to the most inspiring adventure of my life. From New York I took another risk, as I said good-bye to the skyscrapers and said hello to the open road and an open mind and move to Thailand, where I would take on a new role as a high school English teacher, and continue to explore use my new passion for web development and digital design on the side with my new blog, Kayla Joy.
Thailand gave me such deep insight and growth, not only professionally, in terms of expanding my current skill set in education, but I was able to gain such a deeper appreciation for life on our planet, how connected we all are as humans, and I was inspired because I found a merging of my passions. I was able to spend time with kids, teaching them with my own approach to lessons, including a unit on gratitude for example, but I also saw how relevant technology is to all of our students worldwide, and how we can use it to form deeper connections. Seeing the same problems arise in traditional school systems on the other side of the world, I felt reinvigorated to come back to the States and revisit my role in education, but this time I wanted to redirect my focus away from the traditional classroom, and more towards making some significant changes.
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Again technology came to mind as the solution, and I became inspired with such passionate purpose to find a way to fuse these two seemingly separate entities with a direction towards being responsible digital citizens. I went back to school as a sub, with more focus on my summer school and after school curriculum. I taught kids how to code, how to use wix to launch their business ventures or showcase their art portfolios. We did community service, gardening, and baking as a way to stay grounded, mindful, and present. I taught art classes, sewing classes where we made new runway looks out of recycled sustainable clothing, and dance/cheerleading as a way to build trust and teambuilding, all of which helped these children find their self-expression. I took all of my passions and rolled them into one, and I saw kids flourish before my eyes. It was so important to see children creating, learning, growing, making connections to the planet and each other, all done OUTSIDE of the classroom. This is what aligns with my pursuit of happiness, and for the first time it all started making sense. I am truly doing what I love to do. Teaching, traveling, and working digitally along the way. Making a positive impact on the world and helping to do my part in creating something great that influences people for the better. Through the use of innovation and technology, coupled with the truth that comes from experiencing this planet with your full presence and self-expression, we are going to see a beautiful merging of the digital media and the tech movement, with what it means to be human--and I see all of these aspects being increasingly important to our future.
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Quitting my job, the move to New York, launching G&J, and eventually moving to Thailand, got me out of my comfort zone and pushed me further than I ever would have if I listened to others and was too afraid to take a risk. I realized that with a little patience and a lot of persistence, my visions, that had always just been ideas, could actually become viable realities. All I needed was the courage to make it happen. I was finally doing what I genuinely loved to do, and as overwhelming as it got at times, it was reaching people, and the positive response, even if just from one person, was enough to keep me going. I learned and grew a lot from my first decade of professional endeavors, and subsequently gained the confidence to explore more aspects of my life than I had considered before. It has opened me up, exposed more of my true self, and connected me with a network of people who have inspired me to keep going. For that, I am eternally grateful, and excited, to see where this all leads!
