Gloria Rattia: an exemplary trainer
Mother, instructor, and exemplary citizen who has committed herself to educate young people in the craft of beauty
By T&P – April 30, 2021
Gloria Josefina Rattia, a participant in the Formación de Formadores (Training of Trainers) under the Belleza por un Futuro (Beauty for a Future) program, and current co-founder of the recent Barbershop Salon Virgen del Rosario barbershop project have dedicated her life to being an educator in the area of beauty, always at the service of others.
He was born on November 11, 1965, in the state of Guárico, Venezuela. She grew up with her mother and six siblings in the town of Calabozo, where she had a happy childhood. From a very young age, her mother, María Pastora Rattia, taught her the value of being a companion, family-oriented and responsible, always maintaining optimism and faith in the face of adversity. Currently, she has the joy of sharing her life with her three children: José Gerdez, María Gerdez, and Hairany Betancourt, in addition to having a seven-year-old grandson.
At the age of 23, she began working as a home hairstylist after becoming certified in the trade: “I started studying hairdressing to become a professional and spend more time with my three children and make them proud of their mother,” said Gloria.
Through a neighbor’s motivation, Gloria got to know the Brisas del Lago Module, where she specialized and began to teach the substitutes of instructor Cristina de Guevara, whom Gloria remembers as a fundamental person in her professional career. At the same time, she completed a teaching induction and obtained a certificate that allowed her to achieve great opportunities in her career. In total, she has 32 years of experience as a hairdressing instructor and in 2020, despite the difficulties due to the pandemic, she managed to open her hairdressing salon.
“I never thought of teaching… all this changed my life: today I am a professional, I feel fulfilled in my profession and qualified to teach, sure of myself, always thanking God,” she says.
She began teaching classes in ten modules and then was presented with the opportunity to teach in courses of the Turmero mayor’s office through the MAO: Mujeres Activas Organizadoras (Active Women Organizers) project.
In 2016, the trainer was selected to participate in Formación de Formadores (Training of Trainers), a project carried out under the Belleza por un Futuro (Beauty for a Future)program thanks to the support of Trabajo y Persona together with L’Oréal Venezuela, in which she was able to continue training in esthetics and hairdressing skills to replicate what she learned in Fe y Alegría centers nationwide. Today, Gloria Rattia continues with the noble work of instructing youth and transforming their lives by learning a trade.
Faced with the reality of vulnerability, unemployment and school dropouts that many young people live in the country, the training that Gloria Rattia has offered to more than 13,440 people is her grain of sand to improve the current conditions of her community and Venezuela.
Gloria collaborates in different training centers such as: Cacique Charaima, Cecal Padre Venancio Azpiroz, CECAL Virgen del Rosario, Centro Social Estudio Polivalente (where she has instructed 5100 people), CECAL Divina Pastora, CECAL Simon Rodriguez, INCES, among others, with different periods of frequency, but with the same great willingness to help young people.
Among the contents, she teaches within the beauty profession are basic and professional hairdressing, basic and professional barbering, cutting and drying, colorimetry, among many others. In addition, she is nationally known in the Fe y Alegria network for her famous hairstyles, braids, and buns. She can create everything from flowers to hats just by weaving hair, a skill that very few have developed.
When reviewing her great professional trajectory and her positive impact on different Venezuelan communities, the question arises: Why dedicate herself to training and not to the hairdressing trade?, and in the answer, Gloria’s helpful and determined character is exposed: “I decided to share my knowledge with people to help them, so they can have a trade generating their own income, so they can defend themselves. My big dream: to go out of Venezuela to impart my knowledge in the beauty trade, proudly representing my country”.
Gloria Rattia’s future plans are focused on finishing her degree in Arts and Crafts at the Universidad Politécnica Territorial de Mérida, continuing to work on her new barbering project in the state of Aragua, and continuing to train young people in the area of hairdressing and barbering, thus transforming their lives and that of their families.
“I thank God and for what is left of my life, I will continue sharing and giving all my knowledge,” she concludes.