Maria Elena Arambala – Administrative Assistant and Graphic Designer

Hi! I am Elena, 22 years old and a mother of a wonderful baby boy. Some may think I am too young for this, but you may be more surprised when you hear more of my story. I was lucky enough to marry, if not the man of my dreams, the man I fell in love with. Am I being too cheesy? I feel as if butterflies are all over my stomach, and I’m actually laughing right now!

I finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education majors in English and Social Studies. Yes, I have two majors – as of March 2016 and I was only 19 at that time (well… to be accurate, I was about to turn 20 in July).

I then immediately started my teaching career with the institution I graduated in, as a Senior High School Teacher. In the same year, I passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers and right before the year ended, I got married. We had our baby two years later. Looks like I was in a rush, right? Well, sort of. I had to rush things because as they say I might not be able to get a husband once I start my career (and I might become an old maid – isn’t it frightening?).

Kidding aside…

As I mentioned earlier, I started my career as a Senior High School Teacher in a private school. A year later, I was promoted to Academic Coordinator where I help the Principal in supervising and monitoring the teachers in terms of their performance.

In the same year, I pursued my master’s degree in Educational Management and hopefully I’ll graduate this year. As the Academic Coordinator, I prepare reports weekly, monthly, per semester, and annually. I also make sure that everything teachers prepare for the students like lesson plans, project proposals, test questionnaires are of quality, in terms of mechanics and content (meaning, they are aligned with the curriculum and the school’s standards). It’s like quality assurance. While holding the office of the Academic Coordinator, I also do part time teaching in the Junior High School and College of Education departments.

Way back in high school and college, I used to help my mother – who owns a fish stall in the market – in selling prawns, shrimps, and crabs. I guess that was my first ultimate customer service experience. Imagine dealing with different kinds of people, ranging from very kind to the most outrageous – especially when you don’t give them the discount they demand. Well, selling is about strategy and you cannot just give in to the demands of the customer all the time especially if it’s hurting the business. 😀

Since then, I have also been practicing some basic graphic designing and video editing and production. I used to layout event invitations, programs, certificates, etc. I also edit and produce videos for different purposes. I do all these as per request of my friends and sometimes for an extra income. My friends used to call me ‘tech savvy’ as I can almost always find my way out of every software problem I encounter.

I am a career woman, and I try almost everything where I can practice my skill with and improve on for later use.

For a copy of Maria’s resume please click here.