Teacher Rick

Profession: English as a Second Language Teacher
English Language Instruction, Education, Teaching
I received my Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate (TEFL) in 2017. Since then, I have taught English to businesses in Colombia; near 700 children in China between the ages of 4 and 16; and have taught both children and adults privately.

Event Captain
Hospitality and Tourism, Management, Training and Development, Customer Support
Managed a team of over 30 employees at a top-rated hospitality company. I worked with clients to ensure their needs were met; trained and coordinated my staff to provide fast, efficient and accurate service for weddings and corporate events.

Front-End and Bakery Supervisor
Retail, Management, Training and Development, Customer Support
After 6 1/2 years at Costco, a Fortune 500 retail store in the United States, I had the chance to supervise the front of the store and bakery departments. There, I lead and trained a team of over 100 employees. It was a fast-paced work environment.

Landscaping Business Owner
Entrepreneurship, Customer Support
At the age of 12 years old, I began mowing grass for my neighbors to earn a small amount of money. By the time I was 16 years old, I realized that I could get more customers and make my work a full-time job. By 25 years old, it was my full-time job!

Interests: I have a wanderlust for experiencing a path less traveled by most. While studying in university, I decided to leave the United States for the first time as an exchange student in Japan. After 3 months there, it changed my life. I learned the beauty of living outside of my own culture and learning a new language organically.

After graduating from university, I would move on to try a few new things, give up my lawn business I started when I was 12 years old, and landed a job in retail at Costco. I did very well there as I received several promotions and made many wonderful friends. Unfortunately, I wanted something else out of my life. My trip abroad to Japan had me wanting to leave the country for an extended period of time. So, at 31 years old, I left my job at Costco and pursued a dream of traveling through South America.

In 2016, I traveled through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. It once again, changed my life. I fell in love with Colombia and decided that I wanted to live there for awhile. Therefore, I traveled back to the US, got certified to teach English and haven't looked back since.

I have now been teaching English since 2017. I've lived in Colombia for just over 2 1/2 years, went back to the US to visit a few times and now live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Learning Spanish has been fun and teaching English to others who are excited about learning it is fun for me to. I love living in new places as I learn more about the world I live in. Talking to people from all over the word is one of my deepest passions.

Aside from my story, I also enjoy shooting and editing videos, eating delicious food, cooking, photography, listening to music for hours and watching documentaries.

Education: Webster University
Writing and Journalism, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Mental Health
I graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor's Degree in Media Communications, a minor in Psychology and Japanese Language. While the focus of my education was centered around video and audio production, my experience in Japan was the most influential.

Spoken Languages: English (Native), Spanish (Conversational), Russian (Basic), Japanese (Basic)

Profile Video: