My name is Jolanta Tipler. I came from Poland to visit New Orleans briefly… and never left, having been seduced by the city’s vibrant culture and delightfully funky character. I met my husband in New Orleans and raised two daughters here. When my girls left for college, I looked to get involved with young adults in a professional capacity and was happy to join Au Pair in America as the community counselor.
My duties as counselor include:
- providing information about the program to new host families
- orienting host families and au pairs regarding program rules and regulations
- assisting host families with selecting and matching with new au pairs
- conducting orientation in person before au pair’s arrival
- meeting with host families and au pairs within two weeks of au pair’s arrival to ensure good personality fit and communication
- maintaining monthly contact with host families and au pairs throughout their match in order to foster good rapport, answer questions and assist in case of differences of opinion
- helping au pairs to meet their educational requirements
- organizing monthly cluster meetings for au pairs to promote their social life, community involvement and cultural enrichment
International travel and diverse cultures have always been my passion and that’s why I feel lucky to be able to interact with wonderful young women from many different countries on a daily basis. I also enjoy dealing with the host families who are in the busiest, most demanding, but also exciting, parts of their lives. It is my goal to help both sides take the best advantage of all the benefits that the Au Pair in America program has to offer.
Hello,
I am doing my international training in an online video messaging service called Keep Tree (http://www.keeptree.com). Keep Tree allows users to record, save and share messages to whoever, whenever they want. The service is specially good for Au Pairs, since it allows the family and the au pair to get to know each other before the work starts. After the time spent together, Keep Tree is a good way of keeping in touch.
Keep Tree can be used to sending birthday greetings, keeping video journal, sending messages to be received in the future – almost anything is possible!
It would be great if you spread the word about Keep Tree for example through your Au Pair in America blog, so that as many people as possible would be able to make use of it. It would be great to have more visibility with Au Pair in America! If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Tia
Hi! My name is Denise and I am currently an Au pair in Denver, Co. I am going to Biloxi in 2 weeks to spend the whole summer there with my host family. I would like to get to know other Au pairs in the area (Gulfport – New Orleans) but I can’t find on any social webside.I would be glad if you could help me. Do you know any group for au pairs on Facebook in the area? Thank you in advance .
Hi Denise, I forwarded your email address to au pairs in our cluster. Hope you’ll hear from them soon.
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