Brandy

My identity has always been wrapped up in the work that I do. I loved working with people in the field of technology for 11 years, managing people, processes, learning, and change. I’d been doing it for a long time and it was time for me to apply my efforts and skills elsewhere.

Many people know that I started my professional life as a teacher and I have a master's degree in education. Many people also know that my husband and I helped my sister, Teresa, establish a successful in-home daycare. She was ready to expand and the timing of my desire to leave my field was convenient. We worked together to find a new location and expand her business to a commercial, licensed facility with more kids, more staff, and more programs. We were - and are - so excited, and there are so many reasons why.

Child care and early childhood education are not valued in the US. The industry pays poorly, provides poor benefits, and then asks people to spend more waking hours with children than their parents do in their most formative years. I know working families everywhere have experienced the guilt, regret, and frustration of choosing (or in some cases not being able to choose) one path or another. It all comes together to create a difficult situation for everyone.

We have focused on a lot of different areas and we have more plans for the future than we can feasibly articulate. But this is where we started:

- Paying teachers well above the industry average

- Working with teachers to pursue more education so they can hone their skills to provide great learning experiences for kids

- Attracting teachers who are passionate about early childhood education to perform like the experienced professionals they are, with the promise of not being treated like glorified baby-sitters

- Helping kids learn and apply practical life skills so they can grow in independence and in contributing to home life in meaningful ways

- Exposing kids to high-quality foods they normally wouldn’t eat as they explore various world cuisines as part of their learning

We still want to provide opportunities for working families to take advantage of things that are normally outside the realm of possibility for them, like baby and me fitness classes and engagement with other families in a flexible way that accommodates work schedules. We want to expand into providing after-school and summer care programs for school-aged kids. More than anything, we want to make sending kids to day care a pleasurable and exciting experience rather than one fraught with guilt, frustration, and fear.

I've been able to use more of my prior skills than I could have imagined in making Gioiosa Montessori a reality. I've learned more than I imagined I didn't know at the same time. It has been an incredible, and sometimes humbling, experience to create a place where children are happy and loved, families are comfortable, and staff are eager and qualified. We're excited to do more of that.