As told by and to Donna Robinson:I first met Angelita Fechino at a NannyPalooza conference
which is a small conference where you get a chance to really get to know each
other. She was sitting with a group and
when she said she was a newborn care specialist out of New York, we struck up a
friendship as I am in New York quite often.
What drew me to her was the discussion on the conferences needed more
diversity and how many do not understand the barriers of Hispanic nannies. That stuck in my brain and later talking to
my daughter she reminded me that we do not have to think about those things
being born white middleclass. We don’t often go out of our way to understand
another culture. I didn’t want to be one
of those people. I knew this was a very special person who would help me
understand. We had a lot in common because
we both had our own business and we both liked to think “out of the box”. The
next time I was in New York we met for lunch and that was the start of a
lasting friendship. Her story is inspiring, but her determination and her
commitment to her dreams brought her a long way and I want to share her story
so that she can be an inspiration to you as well. .As a teenager, Angelita felt she wanted to follow her
mother’s footsteps in the medical field working with newborns. Her mom discouraged her as she felt Angelita
was just too sensitive to deal with the life and death of the neonatal
ward. Her family was big on education so
she went to college and got her BA in Foreign Language Ed and Translation and
Interpreting focused on English and French.
She graduated with honors. She
said she was a people pleaser and struggled with the self confidence that would
have allowed her to stand up for what was really going to make her happy.
Angelita is going to share her story of
how she went into the business world and became very successful but still broke
away to start a career working as a nanny with newborns an later a Newborn Care
Specialist before she even knew that career had a name.
Angelita says:While in college in Chile in 2000, I got a
job in a hotel as a Phone operator, then I was moved to Front Desk. But I was
too short so they moved me to sales which wasn’t my thing! I moved within the
company to become a Housekeeping Supervisor but was moved back into the
Business Centre (that was a full state of the art office facility and it was
like being personal/executive assistant of different guests). That Hotel was
next to the Government Palace so it was pretty iconic to work there. While
working there I met an executive for Sam Ash Music and started working
assisting in different cultural matters and coordinating meetings and things
while they were doing a Market Research over there. Then they brought me to
Miami to do translation into Spanish of some of their catalogues. I then
started to come to the US occasionally on vacation and decided I wanted to move
here. It didn't happen for a while as I started working in the Mining Industry
(main activity in Chile) as a Translator and Interpreter and Executive Assistant.
I got to meet many wonderful people. My real passion was put aside, which was
still working with pregnancy, birth and newborns. I was an only child and
didn't really have any major experience until my best friend got pregnant. I
fell in love with that special time and I "doula-ed" her without even
knowing that was a thing (that was 16 yrs ago when I was 20 at the time). I
wanted to be around newborns, I wanted to tend to moms and I knew other than
doing it on-the-side in Chile, if I wanted to really become a professional I
had to move to the US. (Australia and Canada also crossed my mind).I moved to the US in 2007 as I applied to
work at Marriott online and they called me, I explained I was willing to move
and they said it was up to me to figure out how to do it. I went to the US
Embassy and showed them my job offer and proof I could afford to move. I quit
my job, gave away most of my things. One month later I arrived in New Jersey
and started working the overnight shift at the front desk of the Marriott. I
also started to work as a nanny to a newborn during the day. Even though I got
promoted to Front Office Supervisor/Overnight Manager in less than 6 months I
never thought I wanted to stay on that career path. I was becoming more and more convinced than
ever that newborns was "my thing".”
Donna Robinson says:Can you imagine how difficult it is to give
up a successful career to go into a field where you never know when you will
have a job? She said the first couple of years she worked mainly on instinct
and read everything she could that would guide her. She realized she needed
more education to be the best and did a NCS course in NY. She felt that the
course was lacking and brought nothing new to her knowledge base. She felt she
could not call herself a NCS until she had the correct training. How is that
for integrity?She said that while she was attending
trainings and interacting with others in her field, she felt out of place. She respected their views but realized she
didn’t always share their views on newborns. So she did what she was best
at—seeking out education that would enable her to be the best.I am so impressed with her continued desire
to educate herself. After the INA
conference last year she became a Happiest Baby Educator. She also had become
deeply interested in being a Doula and started training with a wonderful Dona
International Doula. When she told her she believed “Doulas are born, not
made”, she knew at last she had found her calling. She started with a passion
to seek out training. She did Labor and
Postpartum Doula Trainings, she became a Lamaze Educator and completed training
as a Lactation Counselor. She found a glitch when she failed one of the tests
but she hasn’t given up and will continue to study “till she makes it!She said that many times as she attended
trainings and interacting with others, she has felt out of place as she didn't
always share some of the common beliefs others in the field held, but she
respected other's points of views as she said “we're all individuals after all.”She also became a CPST. She did a seminar
in Postpartum psychosis and several other webinars in many other subjects
related and is currently attending an international lactation conference
online.She did training as a Labor doula with
Prodoula as well and is planning on doing the Sacred Pregnancy. She offers this advice: ‘I say do your research and find the right
institution that shares your vision or train with them all and find your own
values”.Sometimes I get dizzy listening to her next
“goal”! She is just so amazing with her
deserve to always be learning. For
example, she said she will also be training as placenta encapsulation
specialist and belly binding and several other trainings this year. She does
this she says “while working a lot of hours every week, trying to keep my
sanity and my family together and my beloved doggies well-cared for”..She told me she feels blessed by her
journey.I knew she had a bad accident in 2009 where
she was told she might not walk afterwards. But after months of hard physical
therapy and a cervical replacement later, she said she was happy to be standing
and keep moving. In three months she was back working with a newborn even
though her mobility and strength were very limited.She said that life was never be the same
after her accident. She still struggled
with chronic pain. She said it was very difficult to “clean herself from pain
management meds”. For a couple of years they were the reason she could keep
working and moving forward as pain was excruciating.She admits she had to break some barriers
as sometimes she felt judged just for been Hispanic. She felt at times the pay
offered was lower than it would have been if she had not been Hispanic. Yet,
rather than being bitter, she feels she can help others by continuing to break
down this barrier. Her optimism has
always amazed me.She found that by offering herself as a volunteer
in a Hospital, she got the opportunity to start a very intense Internship. This
would lead to a part-time job preparing material for the childbirth department
and she started teaching classes to expecting parents. She found she truly
loved teaching. She said, “I have put my heart and soul into learning and I
feel honored to be able to give back to others. I love that I can help them
gain the confidence they need as new parents. We
talked about our friendship and she told me I was someone she looked up to as
she found me strong and honest and that we share ideas that might not be industry
standard but that we stay true to ourselves. I just kept thinking, “my dear YOU
are the inspiration!”I am always touched by Angelita. We meet when I am in NY and she brings a
smile to my face as we share and laugh together. She touches my heart and makes me so proud of
our profession.In closing, I asked her has she met all of
her goals now. “Well, she said, I want to become a
professional trainer/educator and travel to South America and other places someday.
I would like to open their minds and hearts to do some things differently than
what is now neonatal care. I want to
become a mother more than I want to breathe but only God knows if it will ever
happen...I want to keep growing as a human being and I want to always be able
to be amazed by small things.”I ask you now, are you not touched by this
nanny?
If your life has been touched by a special nanny, please send your submission to nannytransitions(at)g(mail)dot(com)
