Employee Spotlight: Clarissa, Dual Language and Family Content Manager

From the start of her career, Clarissa was drawn to creating meaningful learning experiences for children, beginning as a teacher in Spanish bilingual elementary classrooms. A move to Oregon eventually brought her to a Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program, where she was introduced to The Creative Curriculum and GOLD and discovered an approach to teaching that centered children’s curiosity, development, and joy in learning.

That experience deepened her connection to early childhood education and eventually led a former colleague to encourage her to join the Teaching Strategies Professional Development Network. As she became more familiar with the organization and its work, her admiration for its approach to teaching and learning continued to grow.

When the opportunity arose to join Teaching Strategies full time, she was excited to become part of the organization she had already come to know and value. What stood out most were the passionate and collaborative people behind the work and their shared dedication to bringing meaningful ideas to life for educators and children.

Now, after 14 years with the organization, we asked Clarissa to share more about her journey and life at Teaching Strategies.

Tell us about your role at Teaching Strategies. What does your day-to-day look like?

One thing that has remained constant throughout my time at Teaching Strategies is the variety of work I’ve had the opportunity to do. When I first joined the company, our team wore many hats. On any given day, we might be writing content, aligning standards, delivering professional development, presenting at conferences, or preparing statements of work for contractors.
As the company has grown, our roles have become more specialized—a change I’ve really appreciated. Today, my primary focus is on ReadyRosie playlists and multilingual learning initiatives, but I still enjoy opportunities to contribute to content development, presentations, video production, and the occasional Interrater Reliability (IRR) update. The variety keeps my work engaging while allowing me to continue to grow in the areas I’m most passionate about.

How does the work/life balance provided by Teaching Strategies allow you to spend time with your family/pursue outside passions/give back to your community?

What I appreciate most about Teaching Strategies is the flexibility, to do my best work in a way that helps me maintain a healthy work-life balance. Working remotely means I don’t spend hours commuting, which has saved me time, gas money, and—maybe most importantly—my sanity. It also gives me the flexibility to travel when needed to spend meaningful time with family and friends without falling behind at work.

Without a daily commute, I end the workday with more energy to pursue the things I enjoy, like sewing, reading, and creating collages, as well as the habits I’m still learning to love, like exercising and staying on top of appointments. That balance helps me recharge so I can bring fresh energy and creativity to my work each day.

What do you enjoy most about the company culture, and what aspects would you like to see evolve?

Since my first experiences with Teaching Steategies, I have always appreciated that the people I’ve worked with genuinely care about the work they do and about creating the best materials and tools for improving outcomes for children, families, and educators. There’s a willingness to support each other, share ideas, and collaborate across teams, which has given me so many opportunities to learn from colleagues with many different areas of expertise.

Looking ahead, I’d love to see us continue to find ways to simplify communication and make cross-team collaboration even easier. As organizations grow, staying connected becomes more challenging, but also more important.

Which Teaching Strategies values or initiatives resonate with you most, and why?

Championing educators is the value that resonates with me most because I spent many years in the classroom before joining Teaching Strategies. As a teacher in bilingual elementary classrooms and later an admin in a Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program, I learned that educators don’t need more things to do—they need resources that make their work easier and more meaningful.

That perspective still guides me today. Whether I’m developing multilingual resources, family content, or professional learning, I try to start by asking, “What do teachers, children, and families actually need?” If we can make educators’ jobs a little easier and help them spend more time doing what they do best–building relationships and supporting children’s learning–we’ve done something worthwhile. Having worked with children and families facing some of the greatest barriers to opportunity, I know that thoughtful, practical resources can make a real difference in the lives of the people we serve.