Teaching is Paula’s calling. After working for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 34 years, she retired and began volunteering with Chrysalis facilitating the final course in our Job Preparation curriculum: Keeping the Job. She shared, “I love helping people, and I absolutely love to teach. I really want everyone in the class to absolutely see why being professional is so important, not only at their jobs, but outside of their jobs. Professionalism is 24/7, even in their personal lives.”
It is in Paula’s personal life, outside of her time volunteering at our Downtown center, where she’s found her favorite Chrysalis memories: “When I’m in public, like at the gas station or supermarket, former clients have come up to me to share ‘You were my teacher at Chrysalis, and I have a job now!’ We hug and shake hands. Memories of those smiling faces of former clients telling me about the jobs they have obtained and how successful they have become is something I will always have memories of.”
Paula started volunteering at Chrysalis as a result of meeting a client whose life was impacted by our services. She knew this person before he came to Chrysalis, and she saw how our program not only helped him become gainfully employed, it also referred him to rental assistance resources which led to him moving into his own apartment. His success inspired Paula to become a class facilitator.
While we call the class Paula facilitates “Keeping the Job,” she tacks on the following when she starts each class: “and not walking out and saying ‘I quit,’ and not cursing people out, and not fighting.” She finds the role-playing done in class particularly effective in preparing clients for the situations they might face on the job. Additionally, she emphasizes that when you are new to a job you have to “‘Fake it, ‘til you make it’ by disciplining yourself to be humble.”
Thank you, Paula, for changing lives with us! Learn more about Paula’s work with Chrysalis in this article by the LA Times.