Today we’d like to introduce you to Corina Intriago.
Hi Corina, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Mati Talent Institute is a vision that my son Alvaro inspired. Before Mati, I already had success with an array of business ventures, including my own perfume line Aromoso. I had experienced working in political campaigns in Florida and worked as an Event Manager for one of Mexico’s most renowned life coaches and motivational speakers, Alex Dey. I also own a trademark corporation, “Hablemos de Ventas” (Let’s Talk Sales), which provides courses in sales and marketing to business owners. I never imagined that I would end up creating a school that has now become one of the top online schools for grades K-12 education and as of this year has nearly 7 thousand students registered in the program! It all started with the birth of my son.
When he was born, I remember that my mother’s instinct told me that he was different. I took him to many doctors to try and figure out if he had any type of disorder but fortunately no one could find anything wrong with him. It wasn’t until he was shy of turning 3 years old and he entered preschool that his teachers first suggested that he might actually be a gifted child. By age 3 he knew how to count over 1000, spoke English, knew how to read and had started speaking Chinese…all self-taught, my theory is that he learned it on the internet. The preschool he was in didn’t know how to help us so I began looking for different school options and quickly realized that there were no solid options for gifted children.
I then decided to try homeschooling but as a working, single mother, it was just too much work for me and I just did not have enough time in the day for that. I realized that I was in a pretty unique situation since, yes, my son had a very high IQ, but physically he was behind. His muscles were weak, his coordination was off and his communication and socialization was minimal. In other words, there were both low and high levels of development that we had to work on. I continued my search for education that would fit our needs, and I discovered an online program that was personalized and exactly what I had been searching for. The problem was that you could only have access to this program if you were a registered school…it was not available for individuals. Determined to give my son the education that he deserved, I set my mind to creating a school.
I had to put together a team of lawyers, accountants, notaries, I had to get at least 100 licenses in order to register the school in Florida, I had to hire certified teachers, adjust the curriculum in compliance with Common Core guidelines, create a web page for an online presence…It was a lot of work! But my son was the driving force behind all of this. I honestly created this school for him, so that he would receive the education that he needed, at least from grades K-12. I knew I would be able to give him that if I opened this school. I only planned to have one student enrolled, my son Alvaro, but parents of gifted children soon started contacting me and started enrolling in the school.
I quickly realized that this was not just an amazing school for gifted children, but for EVERYONE, including students with learning disabilities because the education is personalized for each child’s pace of development and focuses on the subjects that they both excel at and those that they need the most work on. Since the pandemic, we have experienced a boom in enrollment as parents are looking for alternatives to traditional education. At Mati, we are experts in online education, we have been perfecting our method since 2014, offering a proven and effective interactive, bilingual private education experience. We now have students enrolled, from over 70 countries around the world including the United States, Mexico, Holland, Canada, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, Finland, Indonesia, Peru, Russia, Oman and Qatar.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, it was very difficult because there was so much uncertainty. Starting something from scratch and a project of academic excellence no less…well let me just say that there were a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of fear and anxiety, because I invested my whole life’s savings into Mati. I truly risked everything that I had, every penny that I earned from all my hard work in previous years. But I was doing it for my son, to give him the opportunity of a well-rounded education. That’s what kept me going and still keeps me going, now more than ever knowing that Mati is providing the highest level of education to children and youth all around the world.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Mati Talent Institute?
We are a unique school where each student has an interactive and personalized education. We have the TOEFL accreditation, no matter where you are in the world, as long as you have an internet connection, you can study the outlined lessons of the Common Core standards at your own pace. I am proud of the service that we offer to so many countries, the satisfaction of our families, and the excellent programs that we have achieved. Mati recently received the prestigious Whizz Education Distinguished School Award, an honorary distinction that only a few schools around the world have received.
The award recognizes Mati’s students for a high level of achievement in mathematics through the use of Math-Whizz. The Whizz Education Distinguished School recognition establishes Mati as a leader in mathematics and validates our mission of offering personalized education to each student, no matter which country they come from. At Mati we strive for excellence and continue to look for ways to enhance our school. I am also proud of the fact that Mati is a unique alternative to traditional education.
We offer three online education models: Homeschooling, Distance Learning and an Academy for Gifted Children. Mati also stands out for its tight knit community of students and their families, who can connect through the most advanced online classes and interactive extracurricular clubs. We have alliances with NASA, TED Conferences and The Adriana Barraza Acting Studio, to name a few. With these clubs we offer learning of extracurricular subjects and we promote our students’ socialization. Besides offering a bilingual education (English and Spanish), we also offer resources to learn German, French, Russian and Latin. At Mati, we want to empower students and provide them with tools that can help them discover their own talents and reach their full potential so that they can face the challenges of our current world.
Contact Info:
- Email: admin@matitalentinstitute.org
- Website: http://matitalentinstitute.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matihomeschool
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MatiTalentInstitute/videos
- Other: https://www.niche.com/k12/mati-talent-institute-private-school-hallandale-beach-fl/
Image Credits
Corina Intriago
