Meet Marissa Pienaar | Literacy & Liberatory Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marissa Pienaar and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marissa, what role has risk played in your life or career?
When I taught fourth grade we always began with a unit entitled, Risks and Consequences. Up until then, I’d never considered the benefits of taking risks in terms of obtaining positive outcomes. Once I discovered this, I realize that accepting risk can be gratifying. Looking back, my whole career has been shaped by taking risks. After college, I taught at a school for independent studies, and we had students from all walks of life who were failed by traditional schooling. My students were teenage parents, gang members, in recovery, accelerated learners, and so on. They were wonderful to work with, and everything was fine until our manager departed and we were forced to deal with the unpleasant side of working for a for-profit charter school. Corporate arrived and started singling out, intimidating, and firing teachers who wouldn’t drop their students over minor matters; things that initially brought them to our schools.

In my naïveté, I thought I could take my concerns to the top, but was greeted with a diplomatic “Duh,” we’re here to make money from the company’s vice president. I was demoralized, so I began looking for new employment knowing that I was close to being fired for not dropping my students and meeting my “numbers”.

I found a posting for an event that evening, in my city, for the Peace Corps; and decided to go for it. That leap of faith led me to serve in Namibia as a volunteer for two years, which altered my life dramatically. I learned about cultural humility, how it feels to be an outsider and just plain-old perseverance. Taking that risk was the driving force behind my future as an educator who is devoted to equitable educational outcomes for all children. I know that if I take a risk for good, it will pay off in the end.

What should our readers know about your business?
After leaving the nonprofit-industrial complex, I established Educating Marissa as a response to feeling the restraints of profits over people. Knowing that our children deserved so much more than to be used as social and political pawns, that they deserved to be humanized.

I began my journey as an educational practitioner when I tutored at a placement for young men labeled “delinquent”. What I found were “my brothers” who had been failed by multiple systems. It was then, that I supported several students in learning to read. At 20, I had found my calling. I vowed never to let another student I knew to fall through the cracks. How savior-like of me! At that time, I was not aware of the sociopolitical context, that by design, would continue to widen the opportunity gap that my students would come to reflect.

In the coming years, I took “my boys” with me everywhere I went. They were there with me as I taught independent studies, as I ventured to the Peace Corps in Namibia as Schools and Community volunteer, during my years teaching across from the housing projects I had once lived in. They were with me through getting my Master’s and reading certifications, and their stories resonated with many of my adult reading students whose cultural and linguistic backgrounds were weaponized instead of valued.

They are with me still 20 plus years later. However, they are now joined by countless others who have taught me lessons on humanity and community. It is my mission to share these lived experiences as well as knowledge gained via study and practice with others as we work together for a preferred collective future where all students have the opportunity to thrive. At Educating Marissa, through our coaching, professional development training, and advocacy work, we are building a sacred space at the intersections of education, liberation, healing, and design thinking; a homeplace for all educators, not limited to those with degrees or conventional training, to learn and grow.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
May sound cheesy, but the first place I would take someone visiting The East Bay is the Oakland Museum. Our museum is like our city, vibrant, diverse, innovative, and full of culture. They have an ongoing exhibit on Black Power that all can learn from and enjoy. From there we are going to eat some bomb Ethiopian food from Cafe Colucci on Telegraph.

Then we’ll go to Berkeley for the day to visit the Berkeley Rose Garden where you can get your selfie on and stop and smell the roses. Then you have to eat at my favorite food in the world from Flacos Tacos on Adeline, which serves some of the best vegan Mexican food around.

You can’t come to The Bay and not experience our little island, so Alameda is next on the list. We are going to visit the historic Alameda Theatre and Cineplex and then head out to Park St to find something good to eat. From Monkey King to La Penca Azul, there are so many good eats and cute shops to visit.

Back to Oakland, you gotta hit up Lake Merritt where you can walk the lake or grab something from Vegan Mob on Lake Park then find a spot and just chill and soak up the vibes.

Napa isn’t the only place for wine. Richmond’s Riggers Loft Wine Company is a vibe. It features a remarkable view, good food, and live music on the weekends. It’s not to be missed on a trip to the East Bay.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shout-out emphatically goes to my students, past, present, and future from my kindergarteners in Namibia, to my community college students, the members of the Sublime 6th grade class of 2011, and all the teachers I’ve been able to and will guide. As a testament and tribute to the reciprocal nature of teaching and learning, I named my business Educating Marissa. I am always both student and teacher, and so honored to be able to guide others and learn so much in the process.

Website: www.educatingmarissa.com

Instagram: @educatingmarissa

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/educating-marissa-education-consulting/

Twitter: @explainsmarissa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/educatingmarissa