“So Many People Invested in Me”: Ayoko Vias’ Journey to Teaching
| by Alex Skov
Share
When Ayoko Vias lost her project management job due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she never imagined it would be the beginning of a completely new professional journey. Even though she had spent over 20 years working in higher education, she focused on administration and planning — teaching was never on her radar. Today, though, Ayoko stands confidently at the front of a classroom, deeply passionate about the career she unexpectedly discovered.
“I got into this through a very long route,” she said with a knowing smile.
Originally from Togo, Ayoko spent over two decades working in the United States and earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in project management before traveling back across the Atlantic Ocean. In 2018, she moved to Benin, where she again worked as a project manager until the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted her career and life as a whole, prompting a return to Togo with her husband and two children.
“My parents were still here, so we thought it would be something temporary,” Ayoko recalled, echoing a common sentiment from the early months of the pandemic.
Faced with months of job searching in an unfamiliar market, she eventually decided to apply for roles outside of her normal scope of work while focusing on a particular skill that she did have.
“As I continued to look for jobs in my field and when I wasn’t finding anything, I just decided to start handing out my resume anywhere that speaks English, because Togo’s a French-speaking country,” Ayoko shared.
With this relatively niche language at her disposal, she submitted her resume to embassies, United Nations organizations, and, yes, even English-speaking schools.
“For the schools, I was still thinking, ‘Maybe they need an office manager or someone to run administrative aspects of the school’ — I never, never thought [about] teaching,” Ayoko said, “but they called me about 10 months after I had dropped off my resume and said that they had need of a first grade assistant teacher, and at that time, after being unemployed for 10 months, you would say yes to pretty much anything.”
Without any previous teaching experience, she describes her first year of teaching as “rough,” but felt that things began to go smoother in her second year, when she embraced the opportunity to have her own classroom, choosing to lead kindergarten students rather than a combined second and third grade class.
“I’ve always loved younger kids. I connect with them better and just their openness, their honesty, their curiosity,” she chuckled, “so I decided to go for kindergarten and it was the best decision. After that year, that’s when I knew that I wanted to be a teacher.”
Finding Moreland University, Gaining Confidence, and Overcoming Obstacles
Having been recommended Moreland University’s TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program previously, the idea of earning a teaching certification that would help grow her career and meet potential job requirements for working at international schools was already on Ayoko’s mind. As she gained more experience at the International Baccalaureate (IB) bilingual school, though, she encountered a significant barrier: price.
According to Numbeo, the average cost of living in Togo is 45.4% less than in the U.S., which was reflected in Ayoko’s earnings. However, she did have determination and a commitment to her new career, which she turned into a creative solution that showed her the strength of her community.
“I didn’t have the money to pay for the program, but I did a GoFundMe and had family and friends from the U.S. and [Togo] who sponsored me to do the program, and it was worth every penny — it was worth every penny,” Ayoko explained, “and another reason why I am so committed is because so many people invested in me and I want to make sure I give back what they invested in me.”
During her third year of teaching, Ayoko was able to begin her TEACH-NOW coursework and it immediately had an illuminating effect on her daily work.
“I already had a little bit of experience, but Moreland provided me with so much more,” she said. “It provided me with structure, number one, [and] it provided me with the vocabulary and the terminology to explain the things that I was already doing.”
Another aspect of the program that helped Ayoko build confidence was its use of digital tools and learning formats. Specifically, Ayoko notes that using Canva for design purposes and creating videos helped uplevel her knowledge as a person who does not consider herself to be tech-savvy and does not use those tools in her current school.
“I think that was one of my biggest challenges, so it really challenged me, it pushed me,” she said. “It expanded my knowledge. It expanded my horizons of the possibilities that are out there.”
Balancing Teaching, Learning, and Family
Like many career changers, Ayoko had to navigate the challenge of balancing full-time work, studies, and family life. To fit everything into her schedule and ensure that she could complete the program in 9 months, Ayoko relied on a “very intense” weekend routine that allowed her to finish assignments for TEACH-NOW and create lesson plans for the following week.
“Honestly, I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family, my kids included, because that was time I had to sacrifice spending with them,” Ayoko said, acknowledging that she always gets emotional when recalling this, “but they understood it. They didn’t complain. They were very supportive. They cheered me on.”
Not only that, but her “very digitally inclined” 15-year-old daughter even helped her get familiar with some of the tools that were new to Ayoko.
“She helped me so much with Canva because [teenagers] are just so [much] more familiar and they use those [tools] every day,” Ayoko smiled, “She helped me tremendously with my Moreland program.”
A Future Without Limits
When Ayoko suffered a setback to her certification timeline when her father passed away in July 2024, she leaned on the familiar adage “It’s not how many times you fall down; it’s how many times you get back up.”
And Ayoko has gotten back up, passing both of her Praxis exams and officially receiving her teaching license for Early Childhood Education, putting her on a path to teach children from pre-K to third grade for as long as she would like.
This achievement is more than a credential. It represents the freedom to teach anywhere in the world and to share new experiences with her husband and children.
“We love to travel, and my kids are very adventurous,” Ayoko said, noting that she’s already fielding questions about which country they’ll go to when she starts exploring new job opportunities.
A Message to Future Educators
For those considering teaching as their next career, Ayoko offers one clear piece of advice: “Go for it. Make the leap because you never know unless you try.”
It’s a profession that can provide a sense of meaningful fulfillment, according to Ayoko — even for people who may not have intentionally become educators.
“I didn’t go looking for teaching. I never intended to teach, but I can’t imagine doing anything else right now at this at this stage in my life,” she said. “I know I have found my purpose. I know I found my calling. I found my passion, and I’m giving it everything that I have.”
If you’re ready to pursue your passion as an educator, Moreland is ready to support you. Complete your free application to our 100% online 9-month TEACH-NOW Teacher Certificate Preparation Program or one of our 12-month master’s degree programs today —it takes less than 15 minutes to take this important step in your teaching journey.
