As we continue our Meet the Director blog series, we are excited to introduce you all to Ms. Angie! Of course, our families who already know Ms. Angie from our Minnetonka location know how absolutely amazing and dedicated Ms. Angie is to her families and her teachers. Now that we have this opportunity, we are looking forward to sharing just how great Ms. Angie is with the rest of the #YBRFamily!
We started our questions for Angie by asking her why she began her career in early childhood education!
“I started working with children in 1st-12th grade at the Boys & Girls Club and then moved to the Twin Cities area and got a job nannying an 18-month-old boy and quickly fell in love with early childhood and then it made sense to get a job at a childcare center after my children were born and 16 years later, I still love it as much as I did when I first started!”
Next, we asked Angie why she wanted to become a Director for Yellow Brick Road!
“While looking for management jobs I found Yellow Brick Road and loved the Core Values and all the fun things on their social media pages! I knew that this was a team that I wanted to be on!”
We are so thankful that Angie took her time getting to know Yellow Brick Road, and that she believes in our Core Values as much as we do! When you walk into our Minnetonka location, it is evident that Angie leads by example through our core values!
In Angie’s career in early childhood education, she was an infant teacher for seven years, a toddler teacher for three years and a preschool teacher for three years. With all of that experience meeting new parents, we had to ask her what her best piece of advice was for new parents who are looking for the perfect preschool! We could not agree more with her answer…
“My advice would be to find a center that has strong core values and that makes you feel welcome when you walk in the center.”
Anyone who works in early childhood education can tell you that each day looks a little bit different. We asked Angie what her favorite part of her day is!
“I look forward to all the hugs from the children and being able to see them all grow and learn new things. I also love working with my staff and seeing all the great things that they accomplish every day!”
Angie is so genuine in all that she does, and she puts as much effort into her teacher’s successes as she does her students!
At Yellow Brick Road, we celebrate professional and personal growth in everyone on our team! We asked Angie which areas she has grown in since becoming a Director, and this was her answer!
“I have learned so many things in my time being a director at Yellow Brick Road, but I think the way that I have grown the most is learning how to best support my staff daily!”
When Angie meets with teachers about their professional development, she is also growing as a leader. She is a great mentor to each of her teachers, especially having the experience teaching in every age group!
Knowing that Angies has a strong tie to our Core Values, we had to ask her which core values stood out most to her!
“Communication, as a parent, is the most important thing to me when it comes to my children, so I want to make sure that my communication to our parents is always one of my top priorities.”
Lastly, we asked Angie what piece of advice she would give to a teacher beginning their career in early childhood education? As a mentor she is full of ideas and suggestions inside and outside of the classroom!
“Before leaving the parking lot for the day I would sit in my car and think of my favorite moment of the day, whether it was a baby belly laugh, a child learning a new skill, or a funny moment with a coworker. I would not head for home until I thought of my favorite moment. This was especially important on those hard days when I could still hear babies crying in my head! If I could find my favorite thing and have that be my thought as I was pulling out of the parking lot, I felt like I left any stress in the parking lot and only took that favorite moment home with me.”
Angie’s Favorite children’s book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin