It started with a passion for kids. Long before I ever ran a center, I was an AmeriCorps member tutoring at-risk kids, fighting illiteracy, teaching computer skills, and helping run after-school programs in communities that needed more support than they were getting. That work showed me what’s possible when caring adults build the right systems around children. It also planted the seed for everything that came next.

Then I opened my own center. For 17 years, I owned and ran a licensed childcare center right here in Memphis, Tennessee. We weren’t just compliant — we were one of the highest-rated programs in the state. When Tennessee used the old Star-Quality Program, we earned and held the top 3 Star rating. When the state moved to the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), we kept right on going, ranking in the top 90th percentile of childcare programs in Tennessee.