All About HER: Elaine Grossomanides

Read more about an inspiring teacher and author. “Keep moving forward, choose the people who choose you, and to be kind and giving.” Elaine Grossomanides

This week, Empower Her had the opportunity to speak with Elaine Grossomanides, a 5th grade math, science, and social studies teacher at the St. Rita school in Hamden, CT.  When asked how she felt about teaching she said, “I love it.  I love giving back to my students and helping them expand their lens on certain subjects but, not just on subjects but also life.”  Elaine cares deeply for her students and understands the impact a teacher has on their lives.  She said, “to this day, I keep in contact with some of my students and it is so great to keep in touch and to see they are doing so great.”  Elaine’s selfless attitude and the way that she cares for her students exemplifies what it means to be an empowered woman.  

In her free time Elaine enjoys being creative.  She enjoys all things creative from reading to gardening to traveling anything that can expand her mind, Elaine loves to do.  Elaine took one of her passions and created something out of it.  From the time she was young, Elaine journaled as a way to keep going.  When things were tough, Elaine took pen to paper and eventually wrote a memoir about her life called The Fig Tree.  In her book, Elaine describes her life and uses a fig tree that her father brought to the United States as a metaphor for life.  Elaine said, “I wrote this book about my dad coming over to America from Greece to pursue the American dream.  I used the fig tree as a metaphor to show that life is cyclical and life is the root and the different people and different events in life are the branches.”  In this book, Elaine goes into detail about different branches of her life like her dad immigrating to the United States to different struggles her son has gone through.  Elaine plans on publishing this book in the future.  Whether it be self publish or through a publishing company, Elaine knows it is important for her to tell her story because there are many people out there who can relate to her story and to her life experiences as well.  

When asked about some women she admires, she talked about Georgian Lussien.  To what she described, Lussien has published work about midlife and how many people can even have a sense of rebirth when they hit that age.  Elaine said that reading Lussien’s book helped her realize this and also has helped her realize her passion for learning and having a growth mindset.  For future plans, Elaine sees herself going back to school to get her doctorate in Theology.  

For the young people out there, Elaine has three pieces of advice.  She said, “keep moving forward, choose the people who choose you, and to be kind and giving.”  By following these things, Elaine has pushed through the tough times and enjoyed the good times.  

Elaine encompasses what it means to be empowered because she is selfless through the way she cares for those dearest to her and she is persistent when things may not be going well and continues to try being a better version of herself everyday.  Empower Her is honored to have Elaine as our featured woman for all about HER!