WELCOME TO EDUCATING MARISSA
We all know that educators are under a lot of pressure to succeed, but it doesn't help when you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed out about the state of education in this country.
Educating Marissa is here to help educators find peace and clarity amidst the chaos by providing practical solutions for overcoming these challenges. Our goal is to guide teachers from their heads (the place where they feel like they need more education) down into their hearts (where we believe true teaching comes from). We encourage them to start acting with confidence instead of worrying about being perfect. Through our blog posts, ebooks, workshops, and online courses we offer different ways for teachers to bring wellness and humanity into their classrooms so that they can feel prepared and empowered every day.
MEET RISS
Our Founder, Marissa Pienaar, is a lifelong lover of books and knowledge. She has an insatiable curiosity that never lets her stop learning, studying, and exploring. Marissa studied Pan-African Studies at California State University, Northridge for her undergraduate degree before pursuing a Master's Degree in Education with a Reading Specialist Certification.
She lives to help others through liberatory education, literacy and community development work that centers the voices of marginalized groups. Marissa loves helping people learn, grow and connect with themselves by using liberatory pedagogy.
OUR ORIGIN STORY
Founder Marissa established Educating Marissa after leaving the nonprofit-industrial complex. Feeling the restraints of profits over people, and the need for bending of values for funding led her to create something new.
At Educating Marissa, we are building a sacred space at the intersections of education, liberation, healing, and design thinking, a homeplace for all educators especially those that are marginalized, and fighting for their students against institutions. Those disruptors, decolonizers, and dismantlers who are ready to co-design the future of education are our people, and we can't wait to get to work!
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Toni Morrison
"... Just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else"
CONNECT & COLLAB
Want to collab, have a question, just want to say hi. Let's Work!
VALUES & MISSION
Educating Marissa's mission is to give educators the time, space, and support to serve their students and communities as their highest vision of themselves. On a broader level, we envision a world where all people are free from oppression in all facets of life. We believe in liberation, equity, and justice for all. We are intersectional in our approach, bringing the voices of those who have been marginalized because of race, class, religion, ability status or sexuality into the forefront.
"... Just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else"
Toni Morrison
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"EDUCATION CAN'T SAVE US. WE HAVE TO SAVE EDUCATION."