We recently connected with Teddy Droseros and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Teddy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

My first time visiting a school through Grateful Peoples! The Gratitude in the Classroom initiative started as a pilot program at my old high school where I offered a set of Gratitude Journals to one of my old teachers. The idea was that his homeroom class would take a few minutes each day to write about what they are grateful for. After several months, I visited his class to see how the practice was going. As the students shared their experience with me, I remember standing in front of the class thinking, “This is what I’m going to be doing for the next phase of my life!”.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

A daily gratitude practice changed my life! It ultimately showed me that my biggest obstacle as a child and young adult (my Mom living with Multiple Sclerosis) was also my biggest blessing due to the awareness it gave me. I started keeping a gratitude journal in my early 20’s and noticed how much my mind developed in a few short years. This got me thinking, “where would my mind be at had I been introduced to this practice earlier in life?”.

This thought is what inspired me to design my own version of a Gratitude Journal and launch a non-profit called Grateful Peoples. The main focus behind the company is our Gratitude in the Classroom initiative where we work with teachers to incorporate a daily mindfulness practice into their curriculum. To date, we’ve been able to donate and distribute over 20,000 Grateful Peoples Journals to schools across the US and Canada!

As you know, we’re living in a pretty uncertain society and our schools are really struggling to care for the well-being of their students. 100% of the teachers we work with say they notice a significant difference in their students’ behavior, particularly with how they treat each other. One of our schools even reported a 40% decrease in behavioral citations after only one year of journaling!

This feedback from teachers is what I’m most proud of and what keeps me going!

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Yes! Grateful Peoples has been one of the biggest blessings of my life. I’ve learned so much about myself and others that I don’t think I would have learned otherwise. It has forced me into situations where I feel really uncomfortable, but it taught me that there is always so much goodness on the other side!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Being that Grateful Peoples focuses on schools, the pandemic was really difficult as most children were staying home. Many teachers were reaching out with concerns about the mental/emotional health of their students, and I wanted to support them. However, all partnerships and funding opportunities came to a halt as many aspects of society closed down. It was a tough few years, but I’m grateful for the amazing teachers that created the space with their students to keep the Gratitude in the Classroom project going! I’m also learning to be grateful for myself for figuring out how to continue operating Grateful Peoples throughout the pandemic!

Contact Info:

• Website: gratefulpeoples.com
• Instagram: gratefulpeoples
• Facebook: Grateful Peoples