Rezelle Ann Rivera – ESL Teacher and Virtual Assistant

Hello everyone! You can call me Zelle or Ann and this is my story.

MY PARENT’S THIRD CHILD

Yup! I am the third child out of four – we are two girls and 2 boys. I grew up with a simple life wherein we go to public schools from elementary to high school. My father is an OFW and my mum is a full-time mum. At an early age, they were very open about our situation – that we can’t get all that we wanted. We must be contented with what we have. Still, we were very happy and contented with our life.

With the help of my uncle, I graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Elementary Education way back 2009. And in the same year, I worked as a Teacher in a Montessori School here in Pampanga for four years. I handled Elementary students and Pre-Elem students too. The salary of a teacher in a private school is not good enough to provide for my family. But I still
worked hard just to send my younger sister to college, and the only money left for me was my transportation allowance. And I succeeded! I am so proud that my sister graduated and that’s because of my help. I didn’t get the chance to take the board exam because I was so busy with my work and I was not confident to take the exam without enrolling to a review center, so as of this date I am not yet a licensed teacher.

I RESIGNED AS A TEACHER

After four years of teaching, I felt so tired of the paperwork, my everyday transportation, my ‘not enough’ salary, and no benefits at all. So I resigned and I took a break for almost a year and analysed what I really wanted to do. Then I saw one of the ESL company ads and I applied, and was hired. I worked as an English tutor for almost a year. I got the chance to teach different nationalities with different groups of age as well. The salary is good and the time is flexible. I can work whenever I want and there are fewer expenses because I am working in my comfort zone.

FROM CORTEZ TO RIVERA

In 2016, I got married to my long term boyfriend. We have been together since 2009. How romantic isn’t that? He works overseas so he just came home to marry me and we also planned to have a baby. That same year, I received an offer to work as a Virtual Assistant but I needed to resign from my ESL company first. I did a little research about being a VA and as it is more convenient to work anywhere around the house than being locked in a quiet environment which is required in ESL, I made the decision and resigned.

MY LIFE AS A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

I was hired as a Virtual Assistant for Data Entry and my assigned tasks included: check all data for accuracy, delete any unnecessary or extraneous files, keep records of all activities and tasks, make sure all of the data is presented in the right forms, preparing all of your data for entry and data conversion processing forms.

I also performed calendar management: I see to it that it is up to date with my client’s appointments, meetings, and even travel plans. I sent everyday reports to my client just to make sure that everything is on the right track. I was also asked to answer emails regularly throughout the day in order to make sure my client never missed an important call. I really enjoyed being a virtual assistant, but then I fell pregnant and needed to prioritise my baby.

ME AS A FULLTIME MUM

As a first-time mum, I gave up everything, I know every mum out there will understand what I am trying to say. It sounds so dramatic, but it’s true! I gave up my career, I gave up all those petty things that I love to do, I experienced the “Post Partum Depression” where I missed my old self, I missed hanging out with my friends, I missed the looks that I had before. And eventually, I realised that it’s all worth it! I realised that it’s okay not to have that all because I do have a baby girl and she is the most wonderful experience that has happened in my life. She deserves all the love in the world. And I will do everything to protect her and to give all that she needs. My husband still works overseas so I put all the attention to my baby so she feels loved by her dad even when he is far away from us.

Now that she is 2 years old and very smart, I am now ready to work again as a Virtual Assistant. I want to continue the work that I started and I think that work really suits me now that I am a mum. I believe that if the door closes, the window will be open.

To my future client, I believe that I can be a good addition to your company and I will make sure that I will do my best at every task that you assign to me.

Thank you for your time in reading my story.

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