Maddie Baker, 27, first-grade teacher from Rockingham, Virginia. Her experience captures the growing movement of teachers creatively seeking additional earnings to improve their fiscal fitness. As she prepares to enter her sixth year of teaching this August, Baker reflects on her journey and the challenges faced by many in the profession.
Baker’s formative experience foreshadowed many of the educator salary realities he would later face, even when his mother—a fellow educator—mommed the hell out of him. She also raised Maddie and her two other children as a single parent, going on the sometimes spotty schedule of teachers’ income. At home with her during school breaks, Baker would sometimes see her mother go six weeks without a paycheck. Our experiences were compounded by the economic realities that come with a career in teaching.
In the face of such warnings, Baker followed her heart and became a teacher. Her expected pay for the new fiscal year is just under $58,000. In order to replace her lost income, she will have to look elsewhere, tapping into new revenue streams and that includes using social media.
At her new school, Baker receives an annual stipend. It is $100-$250, and she spends that money to purchase classroom supplies in her school’s first months of operation. That’s nowhere near what she actually spends on expenses out-of-pocket. Just last summer, on her own dime, she spent nearly a grand so that her students had a more efficient and orderly space in which to learn. For example, in May, she spent another $92 on educational materials.
“All of the organizational supplies I have in my classroom were things I needed to buy myself,” Baker noted, emphasizing the out-of-pocket expenses many teachers face.
Along with being a university educator, Baker has pursued content creation to supplement her income. Her payment comes from views on her TikToks, brand collaborations and commissions on traffic she drives to Amazon via her recommendations. In May, that was reduced to just over $5,000 before taxes and deductions. This sum was thanks to her professorial wage and her social networking side hustles.
Baker plans to make at least an additional $5,000 this year through her online work. Thanks to this increase, her total expected earnings would now be $63,000—still before taxes. To take control of her money, she opened multiple specific purpose deposit accounts. Her teacher paycheck is deposited directly into her checking account, and her social media income goes entirely into savings.
Baker’s financial planning doesn’t just stop at retirement. She has since accrued $32,000 in student debt and started repayment this past June through an income-driven plan.
Baker highlighted the challenges teachers face around compensation. He said he could never believe that a person could live off a public school teacher salary. “I actually don’t know how that would even be possible, to be honest,” she stated.
Even with these financial pressures, Baker is determined to stay in the classroom. What brings her joy is the influence she can exert in her students’ lives. “It’s about the difference I was going to create,” she emphasized, underscoring that her motivation extends beyond financial gain.
Baker’s approach is unusual even by the standards of professional teaching roles. “It’s a little bit nontraditional, but it works really well for us and the current stage [of life] we’re in right now,” she explained regarding the balance she strikes between teaching and content creation.
Baker recognizes the gratifying aspects of her school life. “There are absolutely magical things happening at my school,” she remarked, highlighting the positive aspects of her profession that inspire her daily.
As Baker continues to navigate the complexities of being a teacher and content creator, she exemplifies the resilience required to thrive in an industry where financial pressures are common. Her story is the story of countless educators who want to share their passions in creative ways, but don’t want to have to starve while doing so.