We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nikki Scarnati. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nikki below.
Nikki, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I think that drive and willing to grow helps you push through feelings of imposter syndrome. If you recognize that is comes from lack of experience, then you should focus on building the experience you feel that your lacking to close the gap of feeling not worthy within your trade. For example, I felt this way after I got Certified through ISR as an instructor. Mastering any new trade can become intimidating. but its important to keep the right mindset. I got active in my community, connected with parents and offered resources as well as discounted lessons to prove my knowledge and capability when it came to teaching. It really helped me get the experience and confidence to educate and teach with confidence.
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?
I am a dually certified swim instructor. I teach aquatic self rescue training as well as stroke development lessons. I am able to help children in my community gain access to life saving skills that help them survive in an aquatic emergency, Over the past 2 years I have educated parents about water safety through social media and my podcast Scarnati Swim Podcast. I cover all things parents need to know about drowning prevention and safety in lessons. I have worked hard to build a community of parents that value my insight and prospective and that in itself is the Scarnati Swim brand.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think three of the biggest attributes of my journey would have to be determination, patience, and passion. When working with a skill set like mine that is meant to help and save lives, you have to be passionate in what you do. You have to care bout the students that you are working with and the impact that it creates for that child and their family. Self Rescue is a very nuanced technique that people don’t necessarily understand the necessity of. So staying determined in educating and allowing parents a glance into the importance of swim skills comes with the job. You have to keep trying no matter how hard it gets. Every child needs something different than the next. Sometimes you have to try different techniques to get a student skilled. So you have to be patient and meet the child where they are at and make adjustments to accommodate what they need. Every child is unique.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am looking to build a community of people to advocate for water safety. If you own a business and have a lobby or waiting area, consider displaying our water safety magazine, or maybe sponsor a community event to raise money for swim scholarships. Allow me to present water safety to your staff if you work with children, or if you know of a pediatrician or daycare that could benefit from learning about water statistics. Realtors and pool maintenance companies, let us form an alliance to help spread awareness. We are all on the same side of child safety. Let’s work together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://scarnatiswim.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarnati.swim
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikki.woder
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzsJyLcNc7Zt4hIDEbtaKJQ
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scarnati.swim
