Marina Kuperman Villatoro

Blogger, Brainstormer, Business leader, Business mentor, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Explorer, Idea generator, Life mentor, Marketer, Parent, Philanthropist, Producer, Promoter, Social entrepreneur, Startup, World traveler, Writer/Editor

At the age of 5 and a half years old, Marina and her family ran from the former USSR (during the Cold War). They were allowed to leave because they were Jews and Jews were never welcomed in USSR. However the process wasn't easy. My mom had to say good bye to her parents and brother in a way as though they were dead to the family. With my grandpa and uncle in the USSR military. When we left the country, we knew (at that time) we would never be able to talk to them again. At that point my grandparents pretty much raised me while my parents were working out how to leave, and when we left, it was as though my parents died to me. Gratefully, the US accepted but that was only after a grueling 6 month refugee route where we lived with many families in the same room. First in Vienna, then Rome until we finally find out which country allowed us in. The only hope we had, that no matter what Israel was always an open door. The main reason why this wasn't the top choice because it was a relatively new country then with many growing pains of its own and my parents would have preferred to go to a more established country. Growing up in an immigrant Russian household there were really few creative outlets when it came to taking a different route than the one this community was most accustomed to. In other words, not going to university (even if you have no idea what you want to study) wasn't an option. Everyone went! And usually studied engineering, computers, education, business. Or majors that held the most promise for offering safety and security. And if I chose to do something totally outside the realm, follow a creative path, the reality was -there was no support at all. Financially, emotionally or any other. And it wasn't because they were totally opposed to it (which they were to some degree) but it was total fear, and unknown for them so to them it felt more of a protection rather than rejection. Growing up in a communist country with no food, work, clothing, housing and other lacks, were the way of life. I was brought to a country where the world was at my fingertips and I had to go the path that was most understandable and safe. Because of the fear that my parents carried with them, and rightly so, I wasn't able to follow a lot of my childhood passions and dreams. Being in constant battles and resistances with my folks, when I finally got out on my own that's when my entrepreneurial, creative spirit wasn't fully suppressed and finally screamed to get out and take over. And my spirit won over. Even though it took over a decade to unlearn, relearn and hone in on my talents (still a work in progress) I have been a serial entrepreneur going on 15 years now. I've created online businesses around traveling with my family, day trading courses, partnering up and starting new businesses, author, actor, fitness professional and many more amazingly unconventional fields that are simply impossible for most people from the USSR community to recognize as anything real. Important Note - Not once did I do a single thing with any of the degrees from my universities. And I went to 4. Still managing to graduate on time with my bachelor's degree. My travel bug was a more rational thing for my parents to understand. And because of that one of my universities was in England, and that changed my whole life. Travel won over!!! Hence my travel site that came years later thanks to me taking a 1.5 year gap year when I was 28 years, which allowed me to meet my husband and become an expat in Central America. A dream that I always had. But the reality is my parents lost over half a million dollars 'investing' in my university education because that's what everyone else does. And throwing hard earned cash to an empty education, when I screamed and yelled I don't know what I want to do, was acceptable to them. But the fear of saying I won't go and maybe not having a family anymore is a strong one. So most people comply and do what they think they should do, even if it's against their own drum beats. I don't ever regret those years of feeling lost, confused and totally unhappy after graduation. Hating what I finally ended up majoring in only to finish university. It made me the person I am today. But, now that I have kids, I am able to see their creativity, their paths and the only true way it can happen is with me learning to fully, unconditionally support them and help them. And that's what I have been doing for years, filling the gap of what our school systems and society has yet to catch up to doing.

Starting new businesses. Creating ideas and implementing. Supporting my kids ideas and doing them with them. World traveling and world schooling my kids. Showing kids the options the world has. Learning, participating, meeting new people. Asking questions, taking adventures that few do, not so much with high adrenaline experiences so much as behind the scenes, and getting my hands dirty and trying out new things that help change the world. And most importantly, doing and exposing my kids to it too. Opening my mind and kids minds. Showing people a new way. Inspiring and empowering and supporting.

Kids are the true entrepreneurs. They are bursting with amazing ideas and concepts. However, the one thing that stops them is lack of support from parents and the education system. Not only financially, but emotionally and simply being on board. Most times this isn't done out of spite, but mainly because the parent themselves doesn't know how to do it, or total fear of rejection and failure so they need to protect the kids, not realizing that this will help them. There are ways to be fully supportive of kids to help them: 1. Start with kids learning the skills that are critical to know for the modern, entrepreneurial economy that are not being taught in school. 2. Parents learning together with kids. 3. More events and conferences focusing on parents and kids learning how be more entrepreneurial with the proper skills 4. More events and conferences for kids. 5. More programs for kids to learn these skills 6. Mentor-ship programs for kids (and parents) 7. Having the proper community to support both the kids and parents This is what I love doing. I love inspiring, showing and teaching kids and parents how to do this.

Educator, entrepreneur, motivational leader, World Traveler

I’m Marina Kuperman Villatoro, founder and educator of the 'Entrepreneurship for Kids' program at Antigua Green School, in Antigua Guatemala. The progressive, eco conscious school my sons go to. I’ve been an entrepreneur for over two decades (with multiple businesses). And, like many entrepreneurs, it has taken me years and thousands of dollars to learn (and unlearn) skills and reprogram my mindset that is needed to succeed in business and life. As a mom of two boys (7 and 13 years old) I want them to be educated with the right set of tools from the start, rather than go through all the relearning and time loss I had to do. When I started to inquire about different workshops, conferences and activities to do with kids, I came up with almost nothing. Not to mention that most school systems nor online programs don’t offer these critical life skills to our kids. Only a selected few private schools scattered around the Silicon Valley, whose parents are mainly entrepreneurs, realize the absolute magnitude for our kids to get these lessons and training early on. It doesn’t have to be only for the privileged at high prices. Let’s face it, our kids will not be able to succeed in the modern, entrepreneurial economy without having the right tools to get them there. Out of my own frustrations that my own kids aren’t getting this education in school, I started the Entrepreneurship for Kids Program at my oldest son’s middle school – Antigua Green School. Working closely with the director, who is an entrepreneur himself and a visionary, he is completely supporting this revolutionary subject where most of the classes are actually outside of the classroom. Let’s get real, in life very little happens in a classroom or any sort of room. All the true magic, action, creation and business happens outside either networking, creating, exploring, etc… Seeing the kids come alive with ideas, meeting and working with entrepreneurs who are already doing it and learning from them has shown me that this is absolutely crucial for our kids to evolution whatever path they decide to take. And it’s done best as a village of parents, experts and kids. My mission is for our kids to learn these skills and tools together with parents and educators and mentors that will help them. Kids have amazing, incredible ideas and most of the time we don’t move forward with them because we, the parents or educators, simply don’t know where to begin and feel we can’t help because of that. That’s where I want to change that with my programs and motivational speeches and workshops.

Photography Coming up with innovative solutions Bringing and connecting people together Simplifying every situation - nothing needs to be as hard, complicated and stressful as people think they are