A lifelong dream to run a Montessori School was hindered when Ms Arotin wa diagnosed with a neurological disorder called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or POTS.
“I would faint every time I stood up and had to re-train my body just to perform basic functions like sitting, standing and walking,” Ms Arotin, of Kellyville Ridge, said.
Doctors said she was among the lucky ones to get early POTS diagnosis, just 26 years old at the time, out on a teaching job in New York, in the United States, when she fell badly ill, passing out, unable to stand up or walk and paralysed.
While recuperating in hospital back home in Australia, and after completing the Master of Teaching in Early Childhood with highest academic honour a few years later, she gained enough strength and started to design a logo for her own school.
“With faith, determination and perseverance, I opened my school from my home, and you can say the rest is history,” she said.
“It can be challenging to create changes in the world, but for me I had a dream to open my own Montessori School, and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.”
Many of those children Ms Arotin passionately taught at her Kellyville Ridge Montessori School, which started with a few preschoolers, have grown and now attending various secondary schools around Northwest Sydney.
These local children Ms Arotin have mentored are among the one million children from anywhere in the world she hoped to reach through Guide & Grow, a childhood development and behavioural coaching program available online that she founded to share her knowledge.
It’s through Ms Arotin’s online presence that her pivotal work in early childhood education caught the attention of the prestigious international Women Changing The World Award program (WCWA).
Held recently in London, the award winners were presented by the influential media celebrity Oprah Winfrey, along with the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and girls’ education and end children’s poverty campaigner Dr Tererai Trent.
Many women were recognised from around the world, including several outstanding Australians such as Ms Arotin, to highlight how they are leading the way in making the world a better place for all, along the way inspiring other women to share their capabilities.
The WCWA is awarded to those women who have become successful in humanitarian work, leadership, advocacy, sustainability, technology, product development, education, health and innovation.
Dr Tererai Trent, Oprah's favourite guest, is an unschooled child bride from Zimbabwe who pursued to study in the United States where she now lives with her family, She has been among earlier WCWA recipients after she established many schools for girls in impoverished villages in Zimbabwe.
In a speech at the awards, Dr Trent said: “These exceptional women are here to awaken hearts, give permission to recapture dreams and inspire the women of the world to come together to forge a brighter path for all. The rising of women is the awakening of everybody.”
The Duchess of York said in her speech at the London award ceremoney that she has “a vision to advocate for women to create positive change in the world and make a difference to pave the way for our future generations, making these awards the perfect platform to see women of the world rise to the occasion.”
Ms Arotin has since been working with the Department of Education and various government agencies that accredited her educational training program while running Montessori playgroups, preschool and tutoring and a ballooning enrolment the school needed to expand the premises to cater for 150 families.
She is more known globally through Guide & Grow online platform with more than 300,000 members today mostly parents, educators and caregivers wanting to find answers to difficulties they face raising children in today’s social environment.
She frequently speaks at international events needing her expertise on early childhood development and training parents and educators in managing children’s behaviour and how they can learn skills to take them through stages of their lives.
“I feel so incredibly privileged and humbled to have won such a prestigious award all the way from Windsor in London, starting this journey from my humble home in Kellyville Ridge,” Ms Arotin said.
Ms Arotin said she has been “specialising in ending the verbal abuse of children across homes and school settings and committed to continuing to make an impact” through her work.
“My vision for the future is to reach one million children globally and expand Montessori educational programs to become a forever home,” Ms Arotin said.
“My wishes are to change the outcomes for children in childcare and early childhood settings by continuing to offer professional development around ‘How to Get Kids to Listen’.”
“I also hope to inspire other women suffering invisible and chronic illnesses to start their business journey and advocate for disability awareness and acceptance in workplaces.”
Ms Arotin has also won the National Excellence in Teaching awards (NEITA), the Australian Small Business Champion Awards, and The Hills Local Business Awards for excellence in education and innovation.
For more details about the 2024 Women Changing the World Awards, visit https://wcwawards.com.
