We were lucky to catch up with Arlene Garcia recently and have shared our conversation below.
Arlene, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
On the outside one would say Dr. Garcia was well established and put together, but on the inside she was slowly dying. Years of misdiagnoses caused her to suffer from a major mood disorder and depression. If you came into contact with her, you would have thought she was crazy or in a bad mood ALL THE TIME. But years later, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, a thyroid disorder that proved difficult to treat because to make matters worse, she had a genetic mutation that prevented her medication from working properly.
Eight years ago, this diagnosis answered many questions for her andgave her part of my life back. Finally, she got the confirmation that she always knew. She wasn’t just crazy as many doctors made her feel due their inability to treat her various ailments. She has taken her life back and is on the road to recovery thanks to this newfound knowledge and a doctor who broke from the traditional textbook response and listened to his patient.
Writing and coaching others is her passion. She started BitterSweet Coaching to share the bitter and sweet moments on her road to recovery from a chronic illness and to help others on their journey. Her goal is to inspire others to turn adversity into triumph.
Arlene, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Dr. Arlene Garcia was born and raised in Connecticut. She attended the school system in Danbury CT, where she learned at a young age the importance of education. She was an avid learner and Honor Roll student until
her teen years, where she took a turn for the worse and began hanging out with the wrong crowd, which led
Garcia to eventually receiving her first F!
Now Dr. Garcia is an educator, business owner and life coach. Arlene Garcia, a Gates and Hord Scholar, obtained her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Teaching through a dual degree honors program and completed her doctorate in
criminology in NY. Her research interests include: legal and social issues relating to crime and delinquency,
education and gender, corrections and issues relating to prison reentry, theory and deviance, and drug policy.
She also attended an educational leadership program and has her School Building Leadership (SBL) Certificate.
She has worked for multiple learning centers, such as Huntington Learning Center and Score!Prep which is a
division of Kaplan. She has tutored students privately as well and instructed college prep, PSAT, SAT, ACT
courses for the ConnCap /Upward Bound Program at Western Connecticut State University. She also
instructed criminology courses and political science courses on the college level.
As a speaker, Dr. Garcia has worked with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senator Ted Kennedy and Miss
America in Washington, D.C. She has also spoken at local and community functions in Connecticut and New
York.
As an educator who has transformed adversity into triumph, Dr. Garcia uses motivation and storytelling to inspire young people daily. Whether it be a group of students or adults, she brings the same motivation to inspire one to live his / her best life. She has been speaking to large and small audiences for over 20 years. Presentations include keynote, workshops, and master of ceremonies.
Dr. Garcia offers coaching and workshops on education, student engagement, curriculum, life skills, purpose, leadership, and more.
Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?
Arlene Garcia bought Sylvan Learning of Brookfield in 2018 from a previous owner. The business combines her love of education, entrepreneurship and helping others in the community. She is also a history teacher and life coach.
Dr. Garcia likes that tutoring can help raise grades and test scores, but what she really loves about it is not necessarily reflected on a report card.
It helps children and parents build confidence. If you can build your confidence you can do anything. I like that Sylvan Learning builds confidence.
She enjoys working with young people, but wants to be able to help them in other ways, too.
Garcia employs one full-time worker and 10 part-time workers, offering help in math, English, writing, homework support and college test preparation. As the franchisee, Garcia has mostly an administrative role with the business, but she steps in to tutor when needed.
One of the main goals is to grow our SAT prep program. She would like Sylvan to be the hub of test prep in the area.
Garcia is not a stranger to the tutoring industry. Shortly after graduating from college, she had a small tutoring business in Danbury.
When that ended, the desire to own her own business never left. Several years ago, she started looking at different opportunities and this was perfect — and it’s in education.
Buying the business was no easy feat, she met with the previous owner several times, filled out paperwork, interviewed with Sylvan corporate, listed numerous references who were contacted and lastly secured funding. Garcia got several 0% interest credit cards and bought Sylvan. After one year, she rolled several of the balances over to 0% interest cards and then paid the remaining balance off within two years.
Garcia is also the owner of BitterSweet Coaching, which seeks to raise awareness and funds for chronic illnesses, autoimmune diseases and other “invisible sicknesses.” She herself suffered with a thyroid condition that took years to diagnose.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Being an educator and graduate of the local schools helped build Garcia’s reputation within the field. Many in the area knew her, her family and her credentials. Garcia comes from a very humble family and was the first to graduate college and later receive a doctorate in criminology. She’s been involved in the local community for years and is a recipient and board member of the Hord Foundation (Foundation rewards excellence among scholars of African descent in the greater Danbury area by providing scholarships, offering support programs, and building a connected community). She is also a proud member of AAUW and Kappa Delta Pi.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bittersweetcoaching.com
- Instagram: @bittersweetcoaching
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bittersweetcoaching
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arlene-garcia-34179410
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bsrealtalk
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bittersweet+coaching
Image Credits
Sean Allen