We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lissa Brunan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

Legacy is a big word. My entire life has been dedicated to teaching and helping others. I love seeing people learn, so even when I left the classroom, my passion for teaching never left. I spent the next 3 years working for companies to help teach teachers, then transitioned into a role specifically focused on professional development for educators. One of my goals when designing professional development, even if the content itself was dry, was to engage and enlighten all of my learners. My background in educational technology helped think outside the box and allow me to get off the stage and help participants interact with the content more than with me. I’ve shared with thousands of educators all over the country. In schools, at workshops, in conferences, and my hope is always the same. That my legacy of being a passionate, engaging, caring teacher continues to shine bright and that people remember what they learned with a smile on their face because the experience was memorable.

Lissa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Engaging TECHniques was started in 2018. I was a former educator with a passion for providing quality support and professional development throughout the country via coaching, workshops, and conference presentations in the area of educational technology.

I am the owner and Chief Engagement Officer (CEO) of Engaging TECHniques. The field of education has woven itself into my entire working career. Before focusing my passion and energy in the world of professional development, I had six years of experience teaching in a middle school classroom. As a former teacher, I understand the need for engaging, innovative, and collaborative opportunities for educators to learn and grow.

Engaging TECHniques exists to provide high quality professional development focused on embracing, understanding, then effectively implementing educational technology into the classroom.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As with many people, 2020 was a year none of us expected to unfold the way it did. Myself included. But our story starts well before that. We were told when we got married in 2012, we would not be able to have children on our own. We were in our early thirties, so my husband and I looked at each other and decided we would focus getting out of debt. At the time, I loved my job, but my husband had dreams of starting his own business. We worked HARD, had multiple part-time jobs in addition to us both working full time, but we had a goal and were determined to reach it. In 2014, we were able to pay the final payment on our mortgage. We couldn’t believe we did it, but the bigger shock came the next month when we found out we were expecting our first child! It was a true miracle. We welcomed a healthy happy baby boy and a few months later my husband was able to start his own business. While that grew, I realized how much I loved teaching, but also loved the idea of being my own boss, so in 2018, I began consulting, and it was going very well. Our family of 3 was complete, or so we thought.

In 2019 we purchased a small vacation home with cash, and as history often repeats itself, the ink wasn’t even dry and I found out…at the age of 39, that I was pregnant and due in June 2020. The pregnancy was hard, and being older, there were more complications and road bumps, but we were getting through it, and just as I entered my 3rd trimester, I was presenting at a state technology conference, and they announced they were shutting it down. That everyone should go home. COVID was now in the United States.

At first, no one knew what it meant. Maybe a couple weeks off, but as my baby kept growing, we kept getting closer to the due date, and educators were realizing there was going to be a HUGE need to know more about technology for the coming fall, quickly! I had been facilitating a Google Certification cohort virtually for about 3 years. Attendance was always great, but was always capped around 50. The summer of 2020, over 200 educators signed up to learn as much as they could as quickly as possible. There I was, with a newborn in my arms, during what was supposed to be my maternity leave, instead it instantly became the BUSIEST and most demanding season of my career…and I loved every second of it! It was exhausting but it was beyond fulfilling as well. Looking back, I realize how all the small decisions we made, every step we chose to embrace, set us up to handle all that was throw at us with grace and joy.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I’ve been blessed to get an opportunity through past employers to design and facilitate professional development all over the country, most recently to a network of schools that I could continue to support. Building a relationship with the leadership and trust with the staff helped change the perception of what to expect, and while weaving in engaging strategies and opportunities to problem solve and implement change, our time together quickly became valuable and energizing, for both of us! This helped create a network that was built by word-of-mouth and continues to get supported by individuals that could have been one time encounters, but instead became dear friends and awesome cheerleaders for continuing to do what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.engagingtechniques.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lissabrunan/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lissabrunan/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LissaBrunan
• Other: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Engaging-Techniques