Since 2010, I have been working remotely which has allowed me to have flexibility and a better work-life balance. However, I have had to endure low-paying positions with exploitative managers. In my first Social Media Specialist position, I struggled to even get hours and was paid a meager $8.50/hr. To add insult to injury, the pay would have been even lower at $7.50/hr if I only wrote in English but since I also wrote in Spanish, I was able to secure a slightly higher wage. While working as a Call Analyst, I was paid a measly $9.00/hr for a part-time position that required holiday work without any holiday pay. It was demoralizing to see how little my hard work was appreciated, and how the manager gave minimal raises of only a quarter every six months. Worse yet, she didn’t even do her own job but instead expected us to pick up the slack. But I knew I deserved better, and so I resigned rather than continue to be exploited and undervalued. Despite all of this, I kept striving to better myself and my career. I was eventually able to secure a full-time Social Media Specialist position which paid $10.00/hr. However, I resigned due to a backstabbing manager who unfairly took advantage of her position to stay in power. Basically, she got the previous manager fired in order to get the manager position.

It was an exciting opportunity when I got hired as a teacher assistant for a full-time position at $16.00/hr. I enjoyed the job, and it was unfortunate that I had to let it go due to COVID-related layoffs. However, I was determined to pursue my interests and landed a part-time position as a course assistant at a university, which paid me $25.00/hr. It was a dream come true for me to work at a university. But sadly, my excitement was short-lived as I quickly realized that some of my colleagues thought that their higher position made them superior and entitled to mistreat others.
Despite getting paid more for my experience, I was made to do more work than other course assistants who had the same job tasks as me. It was an unfair and unreasonable expectation. And worse still, the teacher assistants expected special treatment just because of their higher position. Therefore, I resigned.

As someone who has experienced mistreatment in the workplace, I cannot stress enough how important it is to stand up against those who abuse their power. My journey has taught me that your position, pay grade, or experience should not entitle you to mistreat others. As a result, it’s very important to me to own a company that doesn’t mistreat others, but instead treats everyone as equal no matter the position.