From PeaceJam Delegate to Company Founder, Marinella A. Chvatal Has Kept Service at the Center of Her Work

RICHLAND, Wash. In 2009, Marinella A. Chvatal was picked as a delegate to the PeaceJam conference. The same year she took home a Soroptimist Award. Seventeen years later she runs her own company, Resilient Pathways Tutoring LLC, and the instinct that put her in that conference hall still drives the way she works with students and their families.

Her school years at Tri Cities Prep were busy ones. She held leadership roles in the student body association, the pep club and the recycling club, sang in the student choir and ran cross country. The school gave her its Ray Whitlow Award, and in 2010 she was honored for service in the community.

At Saint Martin's University she chose community services as her major, with a concentration in social work and a minor in music. Between 2012 and 2015 she interned with Catholic Family and Child Service, the Family Support Service Center, the STARS program run by South Sound Senior of Lacey, and Kokua Services. She also danced with the university's step and dance ensemble, took part in campus ministry and the international club, and finished her degree in 2015.

Literacy came next. From 2015 to 2016 she was a regional service corps member with AmeriCorps, which awarded her a scholarship grant, and she tutored young readers in Pasco School District 1 at the same time. Her community service was recognized again in 2016.

Pasco classrooms then became a regular part of her week. She worked as a substitute paraeducator from 2016 to 2022 and as a substitute teacher from 2017 to 2024, picking up an associate degree in intermedia and multimedia at Columbia Basin College in 2017 along the way. From 2021 to 2023 she also tutored part time for Varsity Tutors.

She opened Resilient Pathways Tutoring LLC in 2020. The company works with learners in person and online, from elementary students to graduate students and adults studying English as a second language. In 2022 she completed a Master of Education in inclusive learning at Heritage University, training that fits a business built around students who need lessons shaped to them.

A year later she earned a Master of Social Work in clinical social work from Carroll College. She hopes to work as a counselor one day, and she wants to bring more staff into the tutoring company as demand grows.

Her other job runs in the family. She worked as a part time assistant at Chvatal Law Offices for more than twenty years, starting in 2002, and in 2023 became office manager at Chvatal King Law. She has also tried her hand at direct sales and team building, as a doTERRA wellness advocate from 2017 to 2022, a Pampered Chef consultant and a GENXT business team lead from 2021 to 2022, and a Mary Kay beauty consultant.

Volunteering has never dropped off her calendar. She created The Tot Box, sensory boxes for children with special needs, and Books without Borders, which ships books to the Cook Islands. She has served as a dance and English specialist with Global Volunteers, as outreach lead and social services representative for the Coalition of Health Benton City, on the public relations and finance committee of the Arc of Tri Cities board, and on the board of First Night Tri Cities. She belongs to the Catholic Daughters of the Americas and the Young Ladies Institute.

Her honors include the United States President's Volunteer Service Award, a certificate of achievement from Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, the Governor's Award from the Girl Scouts, a Golden Heart Award for community service and the Yencopal Award.

Dynamo Times recognizes Marinella A. Chvatal for a career that joins teaching, social work and business ownership, and for years of volunteer work that have reached children and families across the Tri Cities and beyond.