Women-Owned Business Series: Eleanor from Eleanor Traubman Tutoring

Eleanor Traubman Tutoring is making an impact in Brooklyn’s youngest minds, one tutoring session at a time. Owner Eleanor is an experienced and passionate educator, and she’s totally rocking entrepreneurship, too. Read on to learn more about her tutoring services, her thoughts on being a female in business, and her advice for others who want to accomplish the same.

Tell us about your business & why you started it

Eleanor Traubman Tutoring is a Brooklyn-based tutoring service for grades 2-4. I help young people become more joyful, confident readers and writers. I work from the belief that the way children are taught to read and write affects how they feel about and perform these activities. I spend a lot of time listening to my students so that they know I am coming from a place of respect for their minds and for their ideas.

Why do you feel a connection to your work?

I am a seasoned educator, community-builder, and community journalist. An alumna of the Bank Street College of Education, I have spent the last 30-plus years working with young people and families in private and public schools, nonprofit education organizations, and museum settings including The Brooklyn Museum and The Brooklyn Children’s Museum. I love working with neighborhood youth and families and find great satisfaction in supporting young people to read and write about things that are meaningful to them.

As a business owner, community is everything. In what ways do you serve your community, and how has your community served you?

I live in Carroll Gardens and work with families in the neighborhoods that directly surround mine. At the beginning of the pandemic, I started an online project called My Local Heroes, a celebration of activists, artists, athletes, and entrepreneurs from Brooklyn and beyond who are leading the way making lives go better with little fanfare and a lot of heart and smarts. The project was featured in News12, The Patch, and The Backpack Show Live. It also received a Covid-19 Heroes Award from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

What advice would you give to young women who want to start a small business?

Find the intersection between what you love to do, what your top skills are, and what people around you need. Find a problem that you are excited to solve. Look for great mentors, support other women business owners, and delegate tasks so that you are not doing everything yourself!

What women inspire you and why?

I am inspired by the women artists, activists, athletes, and entrepreneurs right here in Brooklyn. I have written about some of them for My Local Heroes. Looking beyond Brooklyn, I am constantly inspired by female athletes and performing artists who use their bodies in creative and powerful ways.

What do you think are the most significant challenges for women business owners or women in leadership positions?

One of the biggest challenges for women business owners and women leaders is to delegate, and also to take the time to rest and care for ourselves.

Click here if you’d like to learn more about Eleanor Traubman Tutoring or about her community initiative – she even has a bunch of free resources to share!