We were lucky to catch up with Monica Barbu recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Monica , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Even though I have always known my purpose in life, it took me a long time to realize exactly what I was born to do! I am from Romania originally. I was getting sick a lot when I was a child and the doctors recommended to my parents I enrolled into a sport that would help build my immune system back up. When I turned 4 years old, my parents took me swimming for the first time. My parents decided it’s a great activity and it’s not just a sport, but it would be great to learn a life-saving skill that I will have forever. I fell in love with swimming. They signed me up for 8 lessons and continued swimming for 14 years. I enjoyed swimming so much, that I didn’t stop until I became part of the Romanian Olympic Swimming team throughout High School.
After High School, I decided to stop swimming professionally and further my education. Despite my parents’ and friends’ surprise, I did not go to a Sports University. I had my Bachelor’s in Foreign Languages (English-Spanish) and Psychology – at the same time. It was challenging, but I loved it.
I have always known that I will have a career in something I love doing. I just wasn’t sure what that was. I have had several jobs along the way. I worked in Customer Service for a long time. I knew I love working with and for people. I knew I love helping people, seeing people reach their goals, making them happy – but I didn’t know exactly what it was until a few years ago.
I looked at the common denominator that was always there – every job I had, I have always had a side job – I taught swimming lessons to friends and family. Everything else I did, it wasn’t truly making me happy! So, I decided to combine everything I did my entire life – studying English, Psychology, Customer service, working with people – with my extensive knowledge as an athlete and passion for swimming. And that is how Safe Swim Academy was created! I knew I found my life purpose when I started to teach full time – kids and adults – how to swim! I love what I do and I do what I love – and that’s my purpose in life!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Monica Barbu and swimming is my passion. I have been swimming since I was 4 years old. After 15 years of swimming professionally and reaching the highest level of performance as part of the Romanian Olympic swimming team throughout high school and into my collegian career, I decided to turn my passion into a profession – and that’s how Safe Swim Academy was created!
We teach private, semi-private and group lessons to kids and adults all ages and abilities. We also work with children with special needs. Safe Swim Academy has 3 different locations – Mission Valley, Mission Bay and LA FITNESS in Eastlake. All pools are heated, so the student is comfortable swimming with us and able to focus on their lesson.
I have been teaching swim lessons in the US for over 15 years. I am a Certified American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, and I have worked with 6 months old babies to 14 years old kids. I also have experience training adults, both the fundamentals of aquatics, as well as refining stroke technique at the advanced level. In addition, I have coached professional swimmers ages 14-19 years old. I am currently working with 12 different instructors that I personally train on my swim program. They are wonderful people and I could not be more proud of them!
My vast professional experience in the aquatics field has provided me the opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life with a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. Furthering my education is the US and graduating from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, gave me the opportunity to better understand the importance of finding the proper approach for each student, depending on their personalities and abilities.
I decided to create “Safe Swim Academy” due to my deep passion for the sport of swimming and because of my strong belief that swimming is more than just a sport – it is an important life-saving skill that will not only keep people safe during all water activities but will also enrich their lives forever. After years of developing my own unique teaching technique, my goal is to offer my students a safe, fun, and unparalleled aquatic experience.
It is my honor and privilege to share with our community all my success and accomplishments as a former Olympic team swimmer. My absolute mission is to lead my students to success and help them achieve their swimming goals in a safe, fun, and interactive environment.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The key to career development is building your skills and setting goals for improvement. No matter what you do for a living, having strong personal skills will always give you an advantage when looking for a job or even after you have a career. Important personal skills to have include communication, leadership, and problem solving skills. Every day is different on my job. Being able to quicky adapt makes a great difference. Adding patience, empathy, team-work and flexibility is what lead me and Safe Swim Academy to success!
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Starting my business wasn’t easy. Creating my own swim school required a lot more than my passion for swimming. It all started with the fun idea of creating my own logo, and it all evolved into forming my swim school. Every day there are challenges I need to face, but just like anything I have ever done, I always seem to be able to get through the tough times. I learn new things every day, and I couldn’t be more grateful of what Safe Swim Academy has become today.
I would like to say thank you to my parents for always supporting me, guiding me, and being there for me! I would also like to thank my grandmother, that was there for me in my first years of life, and took me to and from swim practice every single day, and made sure that I have everything I needed to be able to focus on school and my swimming career. There will never be enough words to express my love and gratitude to my entire family.
I would also like to thank my first swim coach, who introduced swimming to me, and made it a wonderful life-lasting memory. I also appreciate all my other swim coaches, educators, teachers, professors that have helped me become the person I am today. They have taught me a vast number of invaluable things. I will forever be grateful for all of the roles that everyone have played in my life. Last but not least, I would like to thank my wonderful swim instructors that have helped Safe Swim Academy become the wonderful swim school that is today!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.safeswimacademyusa.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safeswimacademy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SafeSwimAcademy
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.ca/biz/safe-swim-academy-san-diego
