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Meet Trailblazer Pia Pulido

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Pia Pulido.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am from Manila, Philippines, but I was raised in Irving, TX. I am co-owner of M&P Creative, a business and creative development studio that I operate with my husband in our home. I also teach English Literature and Humanities for the Gifted and Talented (GT) program at Irving ISD. I serve as the English, Language Arts, and Reading Department Chair for Travis Middle School.

Together with my husband, music producer Michael Pulido, we released our first children’s book Blue Dragonfly in the Irving community to develop and enhance our creative arts program for early childhood education in 2007. From there, we have hosted writing and music workshops as well as recording sessions for students in parochial schools, public schools, and home schools in the metroplex.

In 2012, the release of our second children’s book TERRIBLE TREVOR attracted media attention such as NBC 5 news, Irving Rambler, and DallasChild. In the summer of 2017, I released my third children’s book Camilla the Chameleon while at Irving ISD.

I have been invited as guest speaker to many different organizations and events:

I spoke at the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented in the Ft. Worth Convention Center. The Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented (TAGT) is an organization of educators and parents dedicated to meeting the unique needs of gifted and talented students) about teaching students with Twice Exceptional characteristics (giftedness with disabilities). This topic is very near and dear to me because I am hard of hearing teacher with a soft spot for gifted students who have learning disabilities.

I have spoken as a guest author for school districts in Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Irving, Ft. Worth, and various private schools. Additionally, I have spoken as a hard of hearing teacher during Deaf Awareness Month in Irving’s School of the Deaf.

My spouse and children are the centers of who I am and what I do. My husband is Michael Pulido and he is a vital supporter of everything I do! The picture books that I wrote and published are as much mine as his! His production company before I met him was called Timidsoul Productions. He has since changed the name to M&P Creative because we are collaborative partners in all that he does in music and business development, and all that I do in marketing, writing, and communications. See website below for our products and services:

www.mandpcreative.com

Michael currently teaches music to homeschool families and creates content (audio/visual, video) for business development.

Our daughter Zoe is 13 years old and is also a budding entrepreneur. She is currently working on her third commissioned painting of pet portraits. She has sold many of her products (crocheted items, clothing, jewelry) and owns the website www.zdavleeen.com She sells most of her products via my social media posts, and you can search for them on Instagram #zdavleen. She has been selling products since she was 8 years old and has made enough money to take a road trip to ten states, buy her own iPod, and buy her mother some Starbucks treats and save for college.

Our son Devyn is 21. He is in the Marines and currently works as an aviation technician at Texas Instruments. In his spare time, he tutors Math and Reading enrichment lessons to young children and plays with his beautiful Alaskan husky named Parrot.

The type of work I do and What I Enjoy Most:
The type of work I do is an eclectic mix of who I have become through my background, education, and passion. While studying as an English major with a journalism concentration at the University of Dallas, I was able to land an internship position for the Las Colinas headquarters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in public relations.

That experience was my first glimpse of social activism and knowledge in non-profit organizations. From there, I moved on to become a communications intern for the housing and community development firm at Fannie Mae in North Dallas. Upon graduation, I became a Marketing Coordinator and Copywriter for the e-commerce department at Fossil headquarters, the watch and accessories company. That was such a fun job with such fun perks, but a few years later, I came to realize I was still looking for work that would give me the type of satisfaction I received when I was learning. I would probably blame and/or give credit to the philosophy classes I took as an undergrad and reading Plato’s Republic! So I became a teacher.

I taught elementary school at Holy Family of Nazareth in Irving for eight years. The teaching inspired the writing. I wrote the books for my students and for my own child. A couple of years ago, I was hired mid-year as the English/Humanities teacher in the Gifted and Talented Department for Travis Middle School. Upon hiring, I did not have the exact certification requirements (I had to be Texas certified to teach a GT 8th grade level class which was actually a high school course, and I was only certified to teach ELAR 4-8), I was given a probationary permit for those few months before I acquired the certificate because they looked at my college credits. They saw that I had taken enough English and Humanities courses at the University of Dallas to grant me the highly qualified status.

What I enjoy most about what I do is when I am able to share my passion (reading, writing, learning) with others. I like connecting with people who are able to understand that passion.

My Free Time:
Naps! They’re the best and my favorite!!! I like to spend time with my family, too (when I’m not napping). HA!

Where Do You See Yourself in Ten Years:
I want Michael and I to continue the work we are doing to benefit our community. Whether it’s here or there or someplace else, we want our talents to serve a higher purpose. The stories I write are the stories we live, and the music he makes is the music we want the world to hear. Teaching, writing, and creating are the things that have anchored us.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has been BUMPY! Life happens, and you have to make some hard choices and sacrifices that could involve cutting toxic people out of your life. The struggles along the way happened twelve years ago when my mother died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. I was 29 years old with my own family, but I still looked to my mom for everything involving anything important. It was a hard road to healing and recovery, and sometimes the grief still washes over me. I’ve learned to live with that kind of pain, and I pour the love and loss to my children and my work.

Another lifelong obstacle I go through is my hearing impairment. I constantly work harder than the average person just so I can keep up with what everyone is saying. Lip reading takes a lot of energy, and as a teacher who teaches a core class, I always have to show my students that I have the grit to succeed. Reading/literacy saved my life, so I am an example and inspiration to them. Here’s the link that explains more about my disability:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-im-passionate-early-childhood-literacy-pia-villanueva-pulido?trk=seokp-post-image

Here’s the most recent press release of my 3rd book Camilla the Chameleon:

After years of changing the narrative voice in her book, award-winning teacher, and children’s author Pia Pulido releases Camilla the Chameleon with M&P Creative, a home-based creative development studio she runs with her husband, Michael Pulido, a content developer, and music producer.

M&P Creative, a creative development studio that offers music lessons, business solutions, writing workshops, recording studio production, and copywriting services kicked off Camilla’s release today for pre-order sales.

“Camilla is a very special character,” says Michael Pulido, owner, and operator of M&P Creative. “All throughout the development process, Camilla served as an inspiration to our twelve-year-old daughter. In addition, we are confident that other young women, especially women in business, will also be inspired by her.”

“Camilla is an example of someone struggling with going through changes and finding her way to be comfortable in her own skin through the entire process,” says Pia Pulido. “I’ve gone through my own personal transformation as I train and condition myself to become more physically active and mentally stronger.”

I recently completed my first half-marathon and received a Teacher of the Year award from my campus.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about M&P Creative – what should we know?
I am an educator in and out of the classroom. I wrote, published, and sold my own books with the creative development and direction of my husband because I am passionate about early childhood literacy. Reading saved my life. From this bootstrapping initiative, we co-founded M&P Creative. We are now helping others publish their books, produce their own music, and write their own curriculum. We are showing others how to disrupt the market!

The thing that sets me apart from many is that I have been hearing impaired for most of my life. If you talk to me in person, I must be able to see not only your lips so I can read them, but your eyes so I can read your expressions to fill in the context of words that I cannot hear.

Hearing aids do not help me because they merely amplify the sounds that I already hear, but they do not replicate the pitches and tones that I cannot hear.

When I first got tested by an audiologist at age 8, she was surprised that I had been able to function successfully not only in a general education classroom environment but in an academically advanced private school with no accommodations. She was further astonished that I still got on the Principal’s Honor Roll consistently. When she discovered that I learned how to read at age 5, she explained to me that my academic success was due largely in part to my early childhood literacy.

From that point on, I had a different mindset. My disability was not an obstacle. It was an opportunity.

The most ignorant question I’ve ever been asked is, “If you’re hearing impaired, how are you able to teach?”

My most intelligent response, “I teach extremely well. That’s how.”

The Long Answer

Professor Leslie Owen Wilson from University of Wisconsin Stevens Point discusses “Windows of Opportunity” extensively when it comes to brain-based learning.

She explained that all teachers are taught about developmental ages and stages. They know that teaching a skill beyond a student’s developmental stage often means risking learner frustration or is usually a waste of instructional effort and time because the student is not physically, emotionally or mentally ready to attempt the skill or understand the information presented.

Leslie describes that within each level of development, there also exists “Windows of Opportunity.” These refer to certain periods in brain development whereby certain skills can be learned best or optimally. These are age-specific periods in relation to the development of the brain that allows for creating and consolidating neural networks.

So, how do her research and information relate to me?

When I told Leslie my story, she pointed out that when I learned how to read at an early age before my hearing loss, I was able to hear, learn, and produce sounds of certain words that I would later not be able to hear. That was my window of opportunity.

She shed light on the importance of early childhood literacy in my life from a neuroscientific point of view.

I learned how to read, speak, listen, and write successfully despite my hearing loss because she said that “there are certain language phonemes that folks cannot distinguish or reproduce if not exposed to them early and be missing those windows impedes the learning of language and certainly of foreign languages.”

Leslie was referring to how I learned English and Tagalog simultaneously at age 3 and then took Spanish lessons beginning at age 4.

She said, “Recognizing these windows is so very important if a learner has a disability that needs special attention or accommodation so that all other systems can be optimized. It is also one of the reasons that autism needs to be addressed early on.”

Early childhood literacy at home determined my success in acquiring that skill in school and at work later in life. It is imperative that everyone supports programs that bring books and reading to early childhood literacy no matter their educational background or income level.

That’s why I’m passionate about early childhood literacy. My husband and I continue to work collaboratively to educate others through literacy, music, and creative arts.

What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
As a woman who learned how to be comfortable in her own skin, I was lucky to have attended an all-girl college preparatory school in Dallas: Ursuline Academy of Dallas.

However, the number one most important advice is this:
My best piece of advice to a young woman beginning her career is: If you can’t market your work, it’s hard to imagine anyone believing your credibility. Yes, you have to write a great book for it to sell, but you need to get it in the hands of those first readers. Let go of your inner critic and share what you’ve written to others. That’s the first step. Dare to be vulnerable.

Pricing:

  • $15.00 for children’s book Camilla the Chameleon (limited copies available)
  • $35,00 per hour for music lessons and studio time
  • $75.00 per hour for business and production consultation (publish your own book or music)

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Michael Pulido, Art by ZDavleen, Book Cover by Rene Espinosa

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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