Ashlyn Leidy

I think a lot of it is just following my intuition and being able to stay calm and know that things are not the end of the world. Even when things are really crashing around you - I mean, we've had directors walk out of our school, multiple of them, we've had teachers walk out - and in those moments, you feel like everything's kind of falling apart. But just being able to pivot from that and know that this is probably for the best, and being able to be calm and center yourself is kind of the way that you continue to have success instead of just breaking under that pressure.

I think the best advice is to be open and flexible, and that you don't necessarily have to know what you want to do or be when you grow up. For example, I was never the person that knew exactly what they wanted to be or do, but I am a very intuitive person, and I feel like the things that are supposed to work out will, and the things that are not supposed to work out will not. And I kind of go with that flow in my life as well. And just being flexible for those things, you never know where life is going to lead you.

I would definitely tell them that this industry is not easy. However, it is one of the most rewarding things, I think, that people will do that have that gift of working with young children. It is basically our future, and if you are able to - if you have that superpower, as I call it - and you're able to persist and continue to try to better yourself, try to learn and grow, you can really make a huge difference in an industry that's really struggling, in an industry that needs more support. You can become a support for a lot of other people, too, that are in the same boat as you.

I think the biggest challenge is lack of support for teachers and administrators in this field. There's a lot of legislation, and there's a lot of licensing and regulations that child care centers have to adhere to, and teachers have to adhere to, on top of managing little children that have a lot of needs, and have a lot of energy that they require from you, and attention, and supervision, and learning. So, I feel like the lack of support from government and otherwise is a big challenge. And then for operators of childcare centers, a lot of them are closing because they're losing teachers, and they're not able to adhere to these standards, and in general, the turnover is big in this industry for a lot of different centers. That combined with trying to give teachers a good quality of life as well, and give them enough of a living wage to be able to thrive and live their life is very tough.

One of them, for sure, is that I'm not a quitter, so even when things are really, really hard, I see it as an opportunity to pivot and change either direction, or change how I think about something. I never really just want to throw in the towel. I want to figure out a way to make it work, and I'm very persistent. So I think persistence and just not giving up is really, really important, because there's a lot of challenges, and sometimes when other people might just not approach the challenges, you could be that person that could approach them and make that difference and be able to overcome. And then, as well, another value is you just have to put in the work. Even if it's something small, those things are going to build on each other. So, like, for example, every morning before I have my coffee, which I love, my iced coffee every morning, I try to drink a 16-ounce bottle of water before I have a sip of my coffee, and that's my little thing with myself to hydrate myself. And I have 7 minutes of activity in the morning, even though it may not feel like a lot. Just telling myself I'm gonna do these 7 minutes in front of the sink as I'm getting ready strengthens me.