Libsyn Directory

Ep. 190 — Fail Your Way To Success with Constance Sholar Cherry

Release Date: 12/05/2024

Episode 210 with Dominique Gill — When You Love Kids This Much, Success Comes Naturally

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes Dominique Gill, heart-centered leader and owner of Unique Kids Childcare in Nashville and Smyrna, Tennessee, to share her journey to multi-site child care leader. Dominique opens up about starting as a young mother seeking affordable child care, working in exchange for tuition, and eventually moving from home-based care to two thriving centers. Dominique built her program around love, family, and celebrating every child’s uniqueness. She discusses the challenges of opening during the pandemic, shifting into leadership, raising tuition for the first time, and creating a...

Episode 209 with Tea Shong and Trina Romanowski - A Family Affair! Tales of a Multi-Generational ECE Company

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris sits down with Tea Shong and Trina Romanowski, the powerhouse mother-daughter duo behind a thriving, multi-site early childhood business in Michigan. Winners of the Partnership of the Year Award at the Child Care Success Summit, Tea and Trina share how they scaled from an in-home daycare to three high-quality centers, all rooted in purpose and shared vision. They discuss navigating family dynamics, leading with clarity, embedding nature-based learning, and using creative systems like coaching calls and color-coded lanyards, to keep their team culture strong across every location. Key...

Episode 208 with Rachel Supalla — Creating Leadership Magic In Her Ruby Slippers

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris is joined by longtime friend, business visionary, and rockstar early childhood leader Rachel Supalla. Rachel is the founder of Vision Tree, a TEDx speaker, and the author of The Playful Leader’s Toolkit, a book packed with wisdom on leading with joy, grounding, and energy. With 10 schools across Montana and Utah, Rachel shares how she’s scaled her business while embracing what she calls “ruby slipper leadership.” They talk about managing energy instead of time, why remote teams need tight leadership structures, and how playfulness is more than just dress-up — it’s a strategy...

Episode 207 with Gigi Schweikert — You Can’t Save Your Way to Success

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes Gigi Schweikert, CEO of Lightbridge Academy, to explore what it takes to lead at scale and stay grounded in the human side of early childhood education. With 85 centers across the U.S., Gigi shares how she thinks about quality, culture, and decision-making at the organizational level, and why trust is still the best metric. They discuss industry trends, mentorship, and the habits that help leaders grow. Gigi also reflects on what she’s learned after publishing 18 books, raising four children, embracing grandmotherhood, and showing up consistently for her team and community....

Episode 206 with Regina Miller - Leadership Lessons in Child Care

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes the joy-inducing and magnetic Regina Miller, a nationally recognized trainer, author, and owner of Trailblazers Academy in Wichita, Kansas. With nearly five decades in early childhood education and 35 years in leadership, Regina shares fantastic insight into what it really takes to lead a team, stay connected as an owner, and build lasting impact in your center. Regina shares some great takeaways from her new book Leadership Lessons, including how to hire smarter, mentor without ego, and avoid becoming an absentee owner. Kris and Regina also talk about how to stay...

Episode 204 with Whitney Burkman - From Home to Center: Young Leadership in Action

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes young inspiration and rising leader Whitney Burkman, owner of Magnolia Academy in Payson, Utah. Whitney shares more about her journey from in-home childcare to a full 125-spot center before age 30. She talks about building confidence as a young business owner, gives some great advice for hiring, marketing strategies, leadership challenges, and the critical role of mindset in growing her successful childcare business. Key Takeaways: [4:55] Whitney opened Magnolia in 2022, and they are currently at 122 enrollments. [7:43] Opening a center at age 27 and what inspired...

Episode 203 with Brett Neller — What’s Your Customer Journey? (And Why You Should Care)

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Kris welcomes Brett Neller, CEO of LineLeader by ChildcareCRM, to explore the real meaning of the customer journey in child care, and why it’s critical for sustainable growth. Brett shares insights from his professional evolution, including how dropping his kids off at care centers helped him deeply understand the needs of operators. He and Kris talk about enrollment challenges, operational bottlenecks, mapping a full customer journey, and how automation can power human connection, not replace it. They also discuss fear-based leadership, what small businesses often get wrong in...

Episode 202 with Adrianne Agulla — A Great Story of Scaling Up and Growth

Child Care Rockstar Radio

In this episode, Adrianne Agulla, CEO of Hamilton Heights Child Development Centers in Nebraska and the true definition of an education entrepreneur, joins Kris. Adrianne shares how she went from working in the corporate world to owning six successful daycares and a catering business called Milton’s Amazing Kitchen. Together, she and Kris talk about growing from three to six locations, empowering a leadership team, using VAs to streamline operations, creating a strong scorecard, and what it really takes to scale with excellence. Adrianne goes through the very real ups and downs of growing...

Episode 201 with Zac Alcampo — Gamification in Parenting AND Business

Child Care Rockstar Radio

Zac Alcampo, Creative Director at Grow Your Center, brings a fresh perspective to leadership, culture, and creativity in early education. With two decades of experience in the gaming industry, Zac is a dynamic entrepreneur and inventive strategist who has helped build immersive digital experiences that merge gamification, artificial intelligence, and user engagement. Now, he’s applying those same ideas to the world of child care — reimagining everything from team collaboration to marketing to parenting itself. In this episode, Zac joins Kris to talk about gamification in...

Episode 200 with Vernon Mason — Every Day Is A Gift

Child Care Rockstar Radio

He’s back! The great Vernon Mason returns as one of the podcast’s most popular guests to help celebrate this milestone 200th episode. He and Kris reflect on leadership, legacy, and what it really means to be present. In this episode, Vernon shares his beautiful wisdom and journey from growing up in an in-home child care program to building and selling a five-site child care business, and now helping grow The Nest into a 52-location powerhouse. Together, he and Kris chat about the realities of leadership today including accountability, toxic positivity, turnover trends, universal...

More Episodes

This week, Kris welcomes Constance Sholar Cherry, the powerhouse owner of Creative Home Academy, to share her remarkable journey from home daycare to running multiple thriving centers. Constance discusses her growth through challenges, especially navigating the launch of her center during the pandemic, and emphasizes the “don’t just survive, thrive” mindset. Constance also highlights the value of creating a positive culture, personal development for staff, and the rewards of seeing children go from surviving to thriving.

Key Takeaways:

[9:15] Constance joins the show and shares the capacity and recent expansion of Creative Home Academy.

[10:48] Launching her commercial center during the challenges of April 2020.

[12:09] Why Constance stays passionate about early childhood education.

[14:14] Fun fact: Constance used to show and breed big, beautiful Cane Corso dogs!

[16:41] What sets Creative Home Academy apart, including its screen-free environment and commitment to high-quality nutrition.

[18:53] Constance discusses the importance of showing up as a leader and gaining her team’s trust.

[20:53] Onboarding new team members with a thriving mindset and fun team culture.

[24:02] Teacher appreciation week is a whole vibe… massages with training as well? Yes, please!

[26:56] Constance’s mindset during the pandemic and how she overcame obstacles.

[32:52] The value of failing your way to success.

[35:26] Constance shares how her grandmother and mother inspired her journey.

[36:18] The story of how Constance joined the Academy and how it changed her life for the better.

[39:26] Exciting plans for 2025, including new pre-K programs.

Quotes:

“I love to see children go from surviving to thriving.” — Constance [12:09]
“If I want people to perform in their best version, I have to show up first in my best version.” — Constance [19:10]
“I had to come as the expert, meaning, I know what kids need. I know what my staff needs.” — Constance [19:50]
“ECE is not just something that I just do. It’s who I am, and trust me, because I’m going to lead us in the right direction.” — Constance [20:07]
“I want team members to understand we want to work in a thriving school. … Come on this side. It’s good over here!” — Constance [21:02]
“Some of my darkest moments, the one thing that kept me going was knowing that I deserve to have everything that I want in life, and just being grateful for what I did have.” — Constance [32:18]
“You literally have to fail your way to success. ... You have to move through the hard times because it’s always greater on the other side.” — Constance [32:52]

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