Kayla Dunn is a former teacher turned executive assistant and a mom of two young children. Kayla realized, after going back to teaching after her second child, she was giving her all to her classroom and had nothing left to give to her own children. She shares what it was like to leave the classroom and how she became a better mom, a better wife, and a happier, healthier person.
Listen to the episode in the podcast player below, or find it on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
Leaving Teaching With Small Children
Daphne Gomez:
Hi Kayla, thank you so much for being here today.
Kayla Dunn:
I’m so excited to be on with you today.
Daphne Gomez:
You, I think, have a role that we may have not covered yet. I know that I’ve done TikTok video with someone who was working as an executive assistant, but I’m not quite sure. I don’t think we’ve done any podcasts, so I’m so excited to have you on and hear a little bit more about your role. But I’d love to start a little bit with your experience working in education, before we get into it.
Kayla Dunn:
Sure, sure. So I started off my teaching career, teaching middle school English. So my first teaching job ever, I was teaching sixth grade and seventh grade writing and English. And that was kind of my first taste of teaching and education. And it was really fun. I also was the cheer coach, so I got to kind of have some extra time with some of my students that I taught in class, and then get to have that relationship with them outside of the classroom. And I did that for three years.
So I was teaching sixth and seventh grade English and writing, and I really felt like I wanted to be with the babies, the little ones. And I looked all around for schools in my area, and actually found a position right next door to the middle school I was teaching at. And they had a first grade position. So I was so excited, took that, and taught there for two years.
And then I left that school to a completely different district on the other side of town, and went to second grade. And I taught in second grade for two years. This would’ve been my third year there. And then I ended up leaving in August, September of this year.
Kayla shares what led her to look for a career outside of the classroom
Daphne Gomez:
Do you mind sharing some of your reasons for looking for careers outside of the classroom?
Kayla Dunn:
Absolutely. So when I first started teaching, I mean I loved every second of it, but as I became a mom, I noticed that I was just drained. I was giving all of my emotional and physical and just every part of my being to my students. And it would get to be where I got home at the end of the day with my own kids, and I had no patience left, I had no energy left. My daughter would be like, “Mommy, let’s go to the park. Let’s color.” And I was just, I mean you know, you’re drained at the end of the school day.
And I finally realized one day, I was cooking dinner and Everly just kept asking me to do something. And she was kind of misbehaving because she just wanted my attention and I snapped and I scolded her. And I just felt so bad because I would’ve never really gotten onto her for something small. And I realized at that point, something has to change. Because if I don’t have enough for my own kids at home, that’s an issue. And so that’s kind of when I started to think, “I don’t know. Maybe I need to start looking elsewhere. I don’t really know what I would want to do.” But I knew something had to change for the sake of… In my heart, being a mom was so important to me. And if I couldn’t do that a hundred percent, then I needed to find something that allowed me to.
Daphne Gomez:
Yeah, that’s something that we hear from so many people who are parents that are really struggling with especially just not having the emotional or mental capacity to care for and make memories with their own students. Even something that we’ve heard from so many parents is, after they left, they were nervous about summers and Christmases and all of those types of breaks because that was something that they really cherished, especially if they had young ones at home.
And obviously this is case by case scenario. Not everything is going to be the exact same. But the vast majority of the stories that we hear, the people who have left the classroom now have better holidays, even if the breaks are smaller, they said, because they’re mentally there. They’re able to actually enjoy it instead of laying in bed and struggling with mental health issues. Due to the stress of teaching, they weren’t there for their students or for their own children during those Christmas breaks. And now they’re able to actually enjoy them and be in the present. Do you feel that that is something that has changed with you as well?
Kayla Dunn:
Absolutely. That was something that of course, I was nervous about. And I remember listening to one of your episodes about that specifically, because that was the first question my mom asked, “You know you’re not going to have summers, you’re not going to have Christmas, Thanksgiving, all those breaks.” And I remember being like, “Yeah, I know it’s going to be different.”, but now that I’m experiencing it, I don’t need those long breaks because I’m not drained. I’m not so physically and emotionally depleted to where I need an entire week to recoup.
So it kind of balances out, but more so in favor for me because like you said, laying in bed and just not being able to enjoy those breaks because you are so exhausted, what’s the point? So now, yeah, I would agree with that a hundred percent. My breaks are 10 times better than any long summer I ever had. Because I wake up and I’m like, “Let’s go to the zoo. Let’s go to…” I have all this energy to do stuff with my kids where I think I actually wear them out.
Daphne Gomez:
There’s this very weird analogy, I’ve never thought about it before, but I used to smoke cigarettes and I read this self-help book to help me quit. And one of the things that they talk about is smoking helps alleviate basically the nicotine withdrawal that you experience from smoking. So if you’re irritable or if you’re sad and you need a cigarette and then you feel a tiny bit better, the reason why you feel better is you’re not going through nicotine withdrawal at that one moment.
And I feel that way a little bit about those breaks that we feel like, we say, “Oh, it makes me feel better. These breaks, they really are helpful.”, which obviously everyone’s going to take paid time off. Vacation time is great, but what we’re really doing is, we are drowning in this career and that is the only time that we, for a second, feel a tiny bit better. And so we make the solution, “Oh, we have to keep summer breaks. We can’t change jobs because other jobs don’t have summer breaks and we absolutely need it.” When the actual root of us needing those summer breaks is sometimes because we can’t function year-round. It’s just not sustainable.
Kayla Dunn:
It’s so true. I’ve never experienced the exhaustion like I did when I was teaching. And even before kids, I mean of course it was exacerbated when I had kids. It was 10 times more. But even before that, you just drive home at the end of teaching and you’re just like… I mean I would not even turn the radio on. I didn’t even have the mental capacity for that. So, it truly is one of the most draining jobs and positions you can have.
Kayla explains how childcare played into her career transition
Daphne Gomez:
Yeah. And I’d love to ask a couple questions because I know that there are other things that come with leaving, especially with really young children at home, such as concerned about childcare and the additional costs that you may have, if you’re not able to work in a remote environment. Those types of questions that you had to research and look into about what you were going to do in your own personal situation.
Kayla Dunn:
Absolutely. So my situation was really interesting and I kind of look at it as what others would call a god wink or just divine… whatever you want to call it. And this school year, so I into… I got my class in August. This school year, I was supposed to start my kids at a nearby school that is essentially for staff children. Very close by the school, a lot of the times it feeds into the school that you teach at. And so all the young moms that are teaching there, they want to get their kids in. And I got the email, we were off the wait list. We got an infant class and a toddler class, and I was like, “Wow, this is amazing.”
So summer starts to roll to an end, and it comes time to make the move over to that, from where our child’s care was before, which we got very lucky. It’s an at-home childcare. This woman is credible. And I cried for a week. And I finally had to sit down with my husband and I was like, “I have to talk to you.” And he was like, “What’s going on?” And I was like, “I don’t know why, but I don’t think I can send the kids to this new school.” And he was like, “Well, why not? What’s the problem?”
And I couldn’t even get words out. My heart felt so heavy. I said, “My heart feels heavy. I know it’s a new change. It’s not that. It’s not the change, it’s not something different. I can’t do it. There’s a reason and I don’t know why.” And I could not make this step into doing that. And so we made the decision to stay where we were at. And immediately, a weight was lifted off my chest and I just was like, “Oh, thank goodness. Fast-forward to where I work now, the childcare that we kept them at is five minutes down the road. So…
Daphne Gomez:
So, the situation did not change that much for you?
Kayla Dunn:
No. It was very lucky. I’m very lucky. So I know that that is a big issue for a lot of people, especially friends that I have still teaching now. And I talk to them about what I do and they have questions, “How can I do this?” All those things. And they bring up the same questions, “The breaks. I love the breaks. What would I do with my kids, because they have things in place for that?” And I was so blessed to not have to truly worry about that. But my situation, it kind of all worked out without me really realizing it was working out before my eyes.
Daphne Gomez:
Yeah, 100%. And I have to acknowledge this too. Not every teacher, probably every teacher who’s even listening to this is in the same situation that you and I were in in the classroom. And in those cases, if you can tell yourself, if you can honestly say, “I’m happy in this position more often than I’m stressed out or overwhelmed year-round.”, those breaks are really good perks.
Kayla Dunn:
Oh, yeah.
Daphne Gomez:
When you say the perks of teaching, the pension, the summer breaks, those are great perks, if you are happy. And so, that is going to be something that’s going to be hard and difficult to walk away from. But if it makes you unhappy 365 days of the year, then losing that perk, it is not really a perk when you are happy in your new role outside the classroom. So it is important to acknowledge those breaks are hard to walk away from multiple reasons, but especially for those who are a little bit happier in their careers.
And then it sounds like you have a significant other.
Kayla explains how being in a dual income household supported her transition out of the classroom
And if you don’t mind me asking, when you were starting to look for careers outside the classroom, did you have a lot of pressure on you to make sure that you were hitting a certain salary? Are you able to have that extra additional cushion and safety net due to your significant other resources and income? Or was it really important for you to be able to find something before you left?
Kayla Dunn:
Right. So for me personally, when I came across this position that I am in now, I kind of presented it to my husband. I told him the summary. You see a job listing and you read off all the things, all the benefits, blah, blah, blah. And he was like, “Mm, that sounds too good to be true.” And I was like, “No, you’re right, you’re right.” And after a couple conversations, he sort of was like, “Look, you’re drained, you’re exhausted, you’re not happy. If going to do something different is going to help your mental health because you are the sole caregiver for our kids. You’re the mom, the number one person that handles all those things. Then by all means, you need to find what it is that’s going to make you happy.”
And so I think that having a husband, having someone else that has additional income was definitely a safety net for me. Because say there was a gap if I just left and didn’t find something right away, yes, I would’ve had financial support for that time. And I know not everybody has that. And that’s scary. So I completely understand why somebody would not want to make the change and sacrifice their mental health or their happiness, because you have to make ends meet, especially right now.
Daphne Gomez:
Or just make sure that they have that secure role before leaving the classroom.
Kayla Dunn:
Absolutely. And that’s what I grew up with. My parents always told me, “You never leave a job until you have another job.” And that was kind of the scary part for me, is I started the school year. And so in my mind, the school year started and I was thinking, “Oh, I missed my mark. The school year’s started, now I have to go through another year of this.” I had just had my son a couple months prior, so we’re not sleeping. It just was a very doomsday feeling.
And again, I got very lucky with stumbling upon this role while I was teaching, and even stayed longer in my teaching position to prep the next teacher coming through. And so, I was able to have that very fluid, from one job to another without that scary waiting period to where you doubt yourself and you’re like, “Oh, what did I do? Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.” And so yeah, I do think it’s really important to have something before you leave. But at the same time, I fully support somebody who’s like, “I don’t have anything else lined up. I’m just so miserable.” Because what do you tell somebody that is unhappy in their job?
Daphne Gomez:
Oh, absolutely. It’s something that, everyone is different. And there are some people who absolutely know, “If I commit to another year, I am not going to even try and find other jobs until the end of the year.” And it’s the cycle over again. For those people, they need to make sure that they save up good, the financial cushion because it could take three to six months. Even if it is full-time looking, I want everyone to know realistically, it’s competitive. And it can just take a while to find a new job. And so, it’s so important to realize that you are secure if it does end up taking a little bit longer that you’re able to support yourself.
But I fall in the same boat as you and there’s this really great quote. I think his name is Derek Sivers. I will double check on that. But there’s this quote and it says, “Change careers like Tarzan.”, how Tarzan hold onto one vine, and he looks for the next vine before he goes. And that-
Kayla Dunn:
Oh, I love that.
Daphne Gomez:
… is very much how I have felt about things, because I’ve always been financially responsible for myself since a very young age. I was out on my own since I was 17. My parents are no longer really able to financially support. I grew up in a way that I was kind of supporting them. And it just has always been very important for me to be able to know that I have that financial security, because I don’t have that person to fall back on.
Kayla shares her experience breaking her teaching contract
But I wanted to talk a little bit more about your situation. Really quickly, just it sounds like you did break your teaching contract in the middle of the year. Do you mind sharing what that process was like?
Kayla Dunn:
Yeah, that was the scariest part of it all, I think. You hear these horror stories of leaving teaching, breaking your contract, they’re going to revoke your license, you’ll never teach again. That was scary. We started the school year, I found this position, and I had the most anxiety, pit in my stomach having to have that conversation with my principal.
And I called HR, I let them know what the situation was before I… I wouldn’t even tell them what school I was at. I was like, “This is my position. What am I supposed to do from here?” And they let me know, “You make an appointment, talk with your principal. Let them know what’s going on. Put in your resignation.” And they basically explained that, from what I understood, the principal had the ability to make a mark or not make a mark on your cert, I guess. I still fully don’t understand how it all works, but I do know that I did not have anything go against my certification.
I explained to them that this was my mental health. This was me leaving, not because I was abandoning my job or my role, but I had to for the sake of myself and my family. And I believe that falls under one of the protected reasons to be able to break your contract. Yeah, that was a very big question in my mind. And my mom as well, she’s a teacher, so she was like, “Don’t do this. You’re going to lose your certification.” I didn’t. Nothing was marked against me. So I don’t know if it’s a myth, I don’t know if it’s a scare tactic. I don’t know.
Daphne Gomez:
It happens. It 100% happens. So, we have episodes for those of you who are thinking of breaking your teaching contract. Go back and listen to our episode all about breaking your teaching contract. But it does absolutely happen. Some districts will charge you the thousand dollars fine. Some districts will charge you a $500 fine. Some districts will do it. They will take your teaching license. However, it is a lot of paperwork on their end and it makes one less person who will potentially come back and help them solve this crisis. And so that is on a district by district basis.
And one of the best things you can do is if you have a union, talk to your union about your rights. If you have other people that you can discreetly discuss this with and find out what other people have experienced when they left. Because you’re not going to be the first person who’s ever left this district in the last few years. But also, go back to our podcast episode. We talk about what to look for in your contract and how to evaluate if this is the right fit for you.
Kayla talks about how, based on the job posting, she thought her executive assistant job was too good to be true
One thing that I heard you say that I want to hear a little bit more about is your husband and you were like, this was a scam job. Because I had the exact same experience with my first job outside of the classroom. I was like, “Oh gosh, what is this scam job?” And then when I interviewed I was like, “Oh no, I really want this job. It’s real.”
So tell me, what were the red flags you were seeing or what was the concern there?
Kayla Dunn:
Oh, my gosh. So you read this job description. And anyone who doesn’t know what an EA does, it’s essentially everything that you do in a classroom, but for adults. So we always joke that that’s pretty much what my role is, is it’s moving from teaching in a classroom to teaching my leaders. And we read the description and it’s three weeks vacation, working from home Mondays and Fridays. You’re only in the office three days a week. I mean, I was like, “Wait, what? There’s no way. There’s no way. What’s the catch?” Every other Friday’s a half day? I mean, that to me, sounds like a fake job. And my husband is such a realist. He was like, “Kayla, there’s no way. You cannot think that that actually is true.” And I was like, “I don’t know. It says it right here. But you know, you’re probably right.”
And I sit down with the interview and I listen to all the benefits they have to offer. And I meet the people and the culture and hear just about the amazing things that they do. And I’m just like, “Oh my gosh, if I don’t get this job, I am going to be crying for the next three months.” Because it was everything and more that I could have hoped for. But you don’t even realize outside of teaching, that there’s this whole nother world of happiness, and you’re treated like a person.
And they respect your time. You can take off to go to a doctor’s appointment without having to feel guilty or worried that you’re being looked down upon or that you’re failing so-and-so because you were supposed to do their small group that day. And if you’re not there, then the whole world’s going to fall apart. So, it’s just amazing to see. It’s like night and day.
Daphne Gomez:
Yeah. And I’d love to even hear a little bit more about your role. So you’re an executive assistant. And I know we’ve had past podcast episodes where we talked more about virtual assistant, freelance work. But I have worked in corporations where there are executive assistants as well. Some of these types of positions might have some similarities. But with an executive assistant role, these are usually full-time positions where you are working directly with the leadership team, and basically organizing all of everything that they are too busy to organize.
Kayla talks about her experience with the interview process
What was the interview process like for this particular position? And how do you feel like your teacher skills helped you stand out for this position?
Kayla Dunn:
So the interview process, I actually didn’t get to meet my direct leaders during the interview. It was HR, which is very different than the interview process of teaching. You usually are interviewing with the team that you’re going to be directly teaching with or working with. And I was in a room with four other people, some were HR, one was the CEO. And I remember feeling so nervous going into it. And within five minutes, it was just like this comfort, this wave of comfort came over me and everyone was so kind. And they genuinely just wanted to get to know me as a person versus the typical teacher questions of, “What would you do in this scenario? How would you handle this? What does your data look like for this?” It was more like, “Tell us about you as a person, and let’s get to know what your values are and if they align with ours.”
And I think that coming from teaching, having the flexibility that you have to have as a teacher, the ability to plan out things down to the minute really. And know what’s best for other people in terms of scheduling their day and meetings, and all these things that play with leaders in a company, it’s kind of taking the day in a classroom into a corporate setting. Because you get to know each leader, just like you get to know your students. And I think that the questions that they asked, the situational questions allowed me to show them my biggest asset is getting to know people for who they are. Getting to know my students translates to getting to know my leaders.
I have one leader who absolutely hates doing meetings in the morning. And so I know that when I’m scheduling, those meetings are not going to be put in the morning. They will be in the afternoon. And it’s really using those skills that we all are blessed with as teachers, flexibility, leadership, the ability to connect with others, the interpersonal, all of those skills that you might think are not very valued in the outside world of teaching, really are. And make all the difference when it comes to somebody trusting you with their child and then you go to my position and they trust you with all of their personal information, their calendar, their finances, their personal life. They have to truly trust you. And I think that that is a hundred percent what we do as a teacher. And you just take that into a different setting and you can do the same thing and make just as big of an impact.
Daphne Gomez:
Yeah, I think one thing that also teachers have that I didn’t hear you touch on is the ability to have these active listening skills and also make inferences. Because I have an assistant on my team and one of the things that she does very well is, she’s gotten to know me, like you said. She 100% knows where I struggle to communicate when I need help. Where I try and be stubborn and do it all myself, she can look at a list of things she knows is on my plate and she’s able to just as look at them and say, “This one is easy for me to take over. I know she’s not going to be super picky at it. I’m going to do this and just say, ‘Hey, let me take this off of your plate because I know you aren’t the type of person who’s going to ask me to do that thing.'”
And that’s something that executive assistants I know do a lot is, “Hey, it looks like you’re struggling with X and I know that it’s not going to offend you and it’s going to be helpful. Let me just take that off your plate and create an organizing system for your emails. Or let me book those flights upcoming for you, just as long as you give me criteria of what you really need with them, I’ll just take that off your plate.”
Kayla Dunn:
Absolutely.
Daphne Gomez:
And that I think, is one thing that many teachers would do really well.
Kayla Dunn:
Oh gosh, yes. And then you can’t go without talking about the typical teachers love the fun things, making the day-to-day job or the day-to-day stuff just more fun. And that’s where I really enjoy getting to take the things that are so, I guess you would say, not as important or as high on their to-do list and take that over.
So for example, one of my leaders had a gift that was in his welcome offer for a new employee, and it was for their son. It was a fishing set, and he was like, “I don’t know how to wrap this. Will you figure out how to make it look nice?” And I was like, “Oh, that’s so fun. It’s making a bulletin board.” And so I did the things that I like to do and made it all cute and pretty. And he was just like, “Oh my gosh, this is amazing.” And I was like, “This is what I’m used…” You come from doing crafts at school. And there’s just so many skills I feel like, that I’m not even thinking of off the top of my head that are used in an EA’s position.
And like you said, making inferences. I do that all the time. I see that you have a lunch scheduled today, I’m ordering this. What do you want from there? So the only choice that they have to make that day is, what do they want? Not where we’re getting it, what time it’s coming, but just what they want from that place. And they don’t have time for all that. And so, it’s just making people’s lives a little bit easier with something that comes second nature to so many of us teachers.
Kayla explains what opportunities for growth look like in her new career path
Daphne Gomez:
With this executive assistant role, do you see that there’s room for growth in this particular position? Or do you know if there’s annual raises or promotions that come with it?
Kayla Dunn:
Yes. So, this role was actually essentially created when… I’m the first one in this role at this company. So, they weren’t expecting a certain way for things to go or even planning out what’s next. So here they do a 90-day review. So you start 90 days later, we review how things are going and you get a raise, as long as they’re happy with the work you’re doing. And that continues on throughout the year and annually. And so yeah, financially, there’s all these incentives to work towards that is coming as long as you keep working hard.
And I do believe that there is definitely room to grow. We are constantly growing as a company. And I don’t know if that would be necessarily moving up above an EA or more shifting towards a different area, I guess, in the company, but using those same skills. I personally am just happy being in this role right now, to where I’m not even thinking about what’s next. I’m just thankful to be here in this spot. Being physically, mentally, spiritually, everything it’s so much healthier all around, and just happier.
Kayla shares how her career transition has affected her family life and what it has taught her about herself
Daphne Gomez:
And how has this impacted your family life and your relationship with your kids?
Kayla Dunn:
Oh my gosh, I could write a novel. It’s changed my life. I was never having the time to… For example, working out is something that is so huge for me. It’s my stress relief, it’s my one hour that I can have a clear mind away from kids, away from everybody. I couldn’t do that when I was teaching. There was no time. So you don’t have that for me at least, endorphin release of getting to exercise. And so, you’re grouchier. I was grouchy, I was exhausted. I was getting up so early, pulling my kids out of bed early to get them to daycare so that I could get to school. And just the day-to-day stress on them, it was just not fair.
And now having the flexibility of not having to like, “Hurry, get your shoes on. We have to get in the car, we have to do this.” And feeling like you don’t even get to connect with your kids in the morning because you’re terrified to be five minutes late. I mean, we get to have mornings where we can play and they can take their time putting their shoes on and be a kid without feeling like they’re having a drill sergeant telling them every single thing that they have to do just to get in the car.
My relationship with my toddler, that was the biggest thing. She’s very intuitive. I think she’s an empath, so she would feel what I was feeling. If I had a bad day at school, she had a bad day at home because she was feeling that from me. It’s very hard to hide that, when you just are so frustrated and drained, or you’re crying because you just are giving everything and that’s still not enough. And she sees my happiness now. She’s happier. She doesn’t seem so stressed. No three-year-old should be stressed, right? And our relationship has just gotten so much better.
My mom even mentioned it a couple weeks ago. She was like, “I just have to say…” And she was like, “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you have become such a better mom since you left teaching.” And I was like, “I know.” And she was like, “You just were so easily on the edge. Even with me, I’d be like, eh, I don’t know if this is the best time to talk. And you’re just a different person.” And I a thousand percent agree with that.
Same with my husband. I don’t feel like at the end of the day, I don’t want to talk to anyone. You’ve been teaching all day and you don’t want to talk. And I was guilty of that. He would come home from work and want to talk and I would just be checked out. “Sorry, I don’t want to talk right now.” And now I’m like, “Let’s talk about your day. Let me tell you about this and this.” And I mean all around, my relationships have changed with my friends, my kids, my husband, just myself. It’s amazing the difference. And that’s what I try to tell everyone. It’s just, you wouldn’t believe it unless you are there.
Daphne Gomez:
It’s hard to realize how bad it’s gotten until you’re on the other side of it.
Kayla Dunn:
Yes, I couldn’t have said it better.
Daphne Gomez:
Yeah. For me, I thought, “This is just who I am now.” And then once I was on the other side and I started to become happier again, I was like, “No, I remember this person. This is the person that I am that has just been gone for a while.” And it’s hard to see it until you’re on the other side.
Kayla Dunn:
It’s so true, because you really do think like, “Oh, maybe I’m just going through this season and feeling down.”, or whatever it is. And that might be the case for some people, but for me that wasn’t it. It was the job that was truly draining me to where it was depleting me of my own self.
Daphne Gomez:
This is a great way to transition into the last question that I usually ask for the people who come on. And that is, what did you learn about yourself during this process?
Kayla Dunn:
Gosh, I feel like there’s so many parts to that that I could answer. But the biggest thing is I’m worthy of so much more. I realized that I’m stronger than I thought I was. Because to change careers is, I think I’ve read that it’s one of the most emotionally taxing things a person can go through behind having a child, just like that’s one of the life changes that’s very difficult. And I know that that was one of the scariest things, was stepping out of my comfort zone of teaching.
And so one of the biggest things that I’ve learned about myself is, I have all of these really wonderful talents and skills that have been pressed down and suppressed. The past few years because I was teaching, I didn’t have the chance to really utilize them and show them. And now that I’m getting an outlet and able to do that, I’m like, “Wow.” It sounds silly, “But I’m really talented. I’m really gifted. This is cool that I get to do something and feel happy about doing it and feel like, Good job, Kayla. That was really good. You did a really great job on that.” And I think that’s so important to feel good about what you do every day.
Daphne Gomez:
Yeah, absolutely. It is so hard to discredit because teaching is such an important job. But there are a lot of skills that other roles have that start to bring you the sense of pride of, “Oh, I’m learning new things. And I actually maybe had felt a little stagnant in that last career. And I didn’t realize that until I started to learn new things.” So, I think that that’s something that so many former teachers feel as well.
Kayla, thank you so much for being here today and just for sharing your story. And congratulations on your new role.
Kayla Dunn:
Thank you.
Daphne Gomez:
Just so excited to have had this conversation.
Kayla Dunn:
I’m so happy to have gotten a chance to chat with you. I owe so much of where I am now because of you and listening to all of the wonderful people that you’ve had on. And it just kind of gave me that extra like, “If you’re scared, it’s okay. There’s a community out here that feels the same way. And you’re not going through this alone.” And so, I have to thank you for that because I don’t know if I would be in this role if it wasn’t for finding you, truly.
Daphne Gomez:
Thank you so much for saying that and congratulations.
Kayla Dunn:
Thank you.
Mentioned in the episode:
- Our career path quiz at www.teachercareercoach.com/quiz
- Explore the course that has helped thousands of teachers successfully transition out of the classroom and into new careers: The Teacher Career Coach Course
