Daily Inspiration: Meet Dr. Rachel Kovach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Rachel Kovach

Dr. Rachel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My life has been a continuous series of changing titles, jobs, responsibilities, and opportunities. As a proud example of hustler culture, I am a woman who has never settled for one job at one time, I know the importance of making yourself available so that you can pay your bills and get through the hard days. I have won and lost love multiple times, yet still know the right one is out there for me. I take great joy in helping others feel more empowered and capable after meeting with me, sharing ideas and dreams, and collaborating together to navigate possible solutions and exciting outcomes.

I am the first person in my family to have earned their doctorate degree. Growing up, I never considered that a possibility for me. As the sister of a Hyperlexic, I was accustomed to not being the most academically strong of the Kovach sisters. Instead, I embraced the “cool” older sibling identity that took pride in driving a 1991 Ford Taurus station wagon, starting community college classes while in high school, and working the second I could get a workers permit in high school. I knew my work ethic was going to get me farther than my brain, at least that is what I believed at the time.

I was fortunate to go to my father’s Alma Mater for my bachelor’s degree; Sacramento State University. It was there that I started to discover that I was, indeed, smart. While not an intended consequence of the Criminal Justice Department, a lecture regarding Gardners theory of multiple intelligences allowed my mind to click and realize there were multiple ways to learn, adapt, and evolve. That mental flexibility helped me embrace changes and tragedies that impacted my early to mid twenties, and pivot to my new start in a career in education and my Master’s Degree in Teaching Special Education from Brandman University in Los Angeles.

Being a full time student and teacher isn’t as sexy as you think it is. The money is low and the bills are high. While being a full time teacher and student, taking on additional income as an Advance Romance Consultant with Pure Romance, A Lyft Driver, and After School Tutor was the only way to support a life down in Los Angeles, further cementing the importance of hustler culture and continuous adaptability.

However, that momentum isn’t lasting. There was one morning in particular that had me waking up in my Noho apartment after just ending another romantic situationship, broke and struggling to find plan B. It is when I knew I had to shake things up. Taking an opportunity to pivot and focus on higher education, I began working on my PhD in Education: Organizational Leadership through Liberty University’s online university while tackling on the opportunity to be a Youth Minister for my childhood Catholic parish on the central coast and a Continuing Education instructor for adults with disabilities, senior citizens, and GED students at Cuesta College. The hustler life returned. I was fortunate that these opportunities held firm through the COVID pandemic, and I was able to publish my book, DisHarmony: a Jigsaw Collection of Misguided Dating in 2020. I graduated from Liberty in April 2024 and have embraced opportunities to write and serve as a student and disability advocate.

Life is complicated and full of opportunities to pivot and evolve. Tackling multiple jobs and academic pathways can be overwhelming and demanding, but it will yield great rewards. As my life experience has shown, you can have multiple job titles and working in several fields throughout your life. Embrace it all, don’t limit yourself, and know that YOU are worth every GOOD and WONDERFUL thing.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely not been an easy road. There were times it felt like everything was against me. However, through prayer and perseverance, I have been able to overcome the odds.

An example of having to overcome struggles was when I was training for the Camino Santiago pilgrimage. I was fortunate fly at Spain and walk from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela and complete the final 115 km of the Camino Frances. However, the training was not as smooth as Rocky Balboa makes us all believe through his boxing montages. Two months before leaving on my pilgrimage, my foot snapped in a storm drain! Terrified that I had broken my foot right before a 115 km walk, my family talked me into going to the ER and check to see if I could continue my walk. I was fortunate that the x-rays showed an exaggerated sprain and an old break, but with water therapy, I would be able to return with my plans on hiking the Camino that July.

With a lot to tears and grit, I got myself to Spain. I was confident in my ankle and wanted to embrace the entire Camino spirit. That was until the first day on the trail when my injured ankle rolled and snapped at an ancient church, reinjuring me! My heart was broken. I had no idea what I was going to do. However, with prayer and stubbornness, and the help of an older man selling walking sticks to other injured pilgrims, I was able to continue my journey. Life is definitely not smooth, but it is so beautiful.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a proud author and independent disability rights advocate. As the daughter of the founder of the Hyperlexia Parents Network, I was raised in a family and environment that passionately sought out protecting those with disabilities, and defending their rights at school and in our community. Fast forwarding many decades, my professional life took a twist when my PhD focused on how adults with intellectual disabilities were being overlooked and under appreciated in higher education.

As I previously stated, I was hired by Cuesta College to be a continuing education instructor specializing in courses for adults with disabilities. I fell in love with my job creating academic curriculum that allowed my students to expand their knowledge base using their prior schema to enforce community and academic knowledge. With each semester, my students continued raising the bar and wanting to learn newer and more complicated things. In collaboration with the college’s disability partners, my students were able to show us all that they were ready to tackle the world.

Their growth inspired my dissertation focus. In my dissertation, Emowerment and Advocacy Culture within Higher Education for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities, this qualitative case study allowed the research participants to represent themselves and their views instead of being represented by their care providers, parents, or disability program centers. Their dreams and expectations for themselves are just like all of us, yet current high education systems don’t have systems that accommodate to their intelligences. Through community collaboration and system adaptation, students with intellectual disabilities can transform current higher education and community employability platforms to be more inclusive and dynamic when empowerment and advocacy practices are built into their culture and training systems.

My form of disability rights advocacy celebrates the individual and uses creative collaborations to help establish smart goals and strategic pathways to success. The possibilities are endless.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I am so blessed that so many things make me happy. Whether it’s hilarious memes on my La Familia text thread, coffee visits with my best friend, student achievements from any and all of my students old and new, cuddles with my dogs, or long road trips, I am so blessed to be surrounded by love and happiness. In this life, we are given a choice each day to be happy or sad. Even drowning in heartbreak and sadness, there is always a way to find a glimpse of happiness.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rrkovach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachel.kovach/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-kovach-431a7620a
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rachel_r_kovach
• Other: https://a.co/d/gFMYDDZ

Image Credits
Photos taken by RK Arts