Loaidyn Bolado, a former Miami High student, is the Human Resources Director for the Allen Morris Company in Coral Gables. On November 18, she came back to her old high school to share her experiences with student journalists as part of the Education Fund’s Great American Teach-a-thon, which invites business professional from across South Florida to teach lessons in Miami-Dade County public schools.   

The Allen Morris Company    

       According to Ms. Bolado, her day-to-day working life with the Allen Morris Company involves being prepared for the unexpected. She said it is a tough job, involving many tasks such as: recruiting new employees, interviewing possible candidates for employment, dealing with the legal issues of the company, employee benefits, relationships, planning, and being the voice for the staff.     

   Her path to becoming a Human Resources Director started with her desire to help people, and Ms. Bolado has wanted to help people since she was a child. Leading and mentoring people is what she loves most about her job, while she could do without the paperwork, something she considers a nuisance. In her job, she often meets with people who may have a work-related problem, and she must help them work through it.   

   Her favorite thing about working for Allen Morris, a real estate and development company, is being involved in conversations regarding the creation of a new building. Being involved as the dream becomes the reality of a new building is fulfilling for her.   

A Childhood of Changes   

     Loaidyn Bolado was born in Cuba. She went through many hardships, but she overcame them as she learned to fend for herself. She estimates that she has had to move about 30 times in her life, but almost all of those moves were on a track upward.  

   She is of Spanish ancestry so her relatives in Spain helped her and her family to move out of Cuba to Spain when she was 3 years old. Two years later, the family moved to the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City. When she came to the United States, she didn’t know any English, so she had to start learning in kindergarten. Even though her childhood was not an easy one, she has fond memories of walking to school with her mother in NYC and swimming in fountains.    

   Eventually, her family moved to Miami where she has lived for most of her life. In high school Loaidyn was a self-described “goth kid that wore black” and hung out with the artsy kids on the front lawn of Miami High. She sang with the school choir and enjoyed her classes that required reading, writing, and acting.   

    Unfortunately, she had to drop out in her senior year due to family and financial problems. She recalls having to live in her car at the age of 17 and later moved into an apartment with her significant other. She explained that though she was struggling, she continued to pursue education and in doing that, provided herself with opportunities she wouldn’t have had otherwise.   

Job Experiences    

     While she was out on her own as an adolescent/young adult, she did many jobs including being a receptionist, a farm worker, and a waitress. Loaidyn’s first job was at a pet store cleaning cages. Thinking about her future, she began work on getting her GED. Loaidyn then got certified as a Massage Therapist at Lindsey Hopkins. Moving forward, she got her associates degree from Miami Dade College and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from FIU.   

    Before graduating cum laude from FIU, Loaidyn applied for an office job at Best Buddies and almost got hired on the spot, but they had to wait two days so she could complete her final psych exam at FIU before accepting the job as as an Employment Consultant teaching special needs people how to get hired and how to keep a job. An opening in the human resources department while working at her next job as a trainer for Heico, however, Ms. Bolado’s career went in a different direction. In fact, after going back to school and earning two national certifications in HR, she has worked in human resources in many industries, including health care, manufacturing, art, and real estate.   

   As a Human Resources Director, she enjoys that every day there’s a new project or a new challenge, making every day interesting.  However, it can be an emotionally difficult job because she has to deal with all types of people’s problems such as someone’s sick parent or child, and after a while it does take a toll on you.  

Looking back  

   During her early years, her biggest roadblock was money and debt. Loaidyn was scared of getting into debt, something that she regrets. Of course, she got over this fear and entered school for a degree in psychology and for her certifications in human resources. However, she states, “I regret being afraid. I might have pursued a higher degree like law. I was also scared to follow through with my love of singing and acting.”    

   Family is very important for Ms. Bolado. However, when choosing family over work, she said it gets complicated since she works a lot of hours and her position is not easy . At times, she fails in one and struggles to fully commit in both, since it’s a lot to handle, leaving her often feeling guilty. She says,  “Oh, my God, I want to do good in both areas.”  

   Reflecting on her life journey, she’s proud of who’s she’s become.  She would like to let her younger self know her value.  As a teenage girl who had to leave high school before graduating, she was scared and didn’t know she could make it, yet look at her now. She also wants to thank her parents. Although her childhood was difficult, she now understands that her parents were doing the best they could with the tools they had.  

    Her future is now full of promise and possibilities. Ms. Bolado said, “I want to be able to influence people to be more positive in life.  More specifically, I would like for people to be more empathetic and understanding of others”