Immediately after earning my B.A. and then my Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education, I became a child care administrator. My job, like all early education administrators, required me to solve problems on the fly, build plans, supervise, lead, develop a  compelling and distinct brand, raise funds, lead teams, and communicate professionally with staff, families, partners, and our board. Even though I wore many hats, I always gravitated to the communication and promotional aspects of my job, and I always elected to use technology to achieve the most professional results.

In this role. I  discovered a passion for learning about organizational development and leadership.  With leadership training. I sought to inspire my teams with a combination of authenticity, transparency, accountability, and persuasion. This was the foundation of my interest in leadership and organizational development, which today still fuels my work with clients, and my other endeavor, Early Childhood Investigations.

After 15 years, in this seminal job, I decided it was time to branch out to follow my passion for marketing, management, and technology, especially the Internet. I was fortunate to land in an exciting position in marketing and web management at Teaching Strategies, a national educational curriculum publishing company. Very quickly, I became VP of Marketing and Technology Initiatives. In that role, I managed our bustling marketing department and thriving web presences. I learned all I could learn to implement email, social media, and inbound marketing, which resulted in rapid and exponential growth for the company and our Software as a Service (SaaS) assessment product.

My position also included planning,  building and launching Teaching Strategies new Software as a Service (SaaS) assessment product, CreativeCurricum.net (now called GOLD). I was responsible for making CreativeCurriculum.net an internal business unit with its own sales, technical support, account management, and customer implementation management. Building this start-up unit with all of the moving parts laid a firm foundation for my future work with clients on business development planning and execution.

As a Marketing Executive for this sector leading brand, I had to know the early childhood sector inside and out.  Understanding the competitive landscape from a fifty thousand foot view and developing very real and personal relationships with customers and partners were equally important.  This understanding serves my clients and me, well as we develop engagement strategies for their products and services.

In my work as a consultant at Engagement Strategies and as the founder and producer of Early Childhood Investigations, I continue to effect change and impact the world through early education.  Through Engagement Strategies I leverage my skills, my passion for social enterprise, and my belief that the NOW is the time to come together with all of the power that is now literally at our fingertips. Along the way, I’ve also written many articles in Young Children, Teaching Young Children, and Child Care Information Exchange, and a book, Digital Decisions: Choosing the Right Technology for Early Childhood Education. I am a serial presenter at national early childhood conferences and of webinars and have participated in several podcasts and articles. In 2016, I was honored by Exchange Press as an Exceptional Master Leader.

My clients are Non-profit organizations and companies that serve the early childhood field.  Engagement Strategies also offers two online systems designed to connect early education organizations to expertise. Early Childhood Investigations Webinars not only provides free online professional development through thought leaders in our field, it also provides Sponsors with highly qualified leads for their products and services. Early Childhood Investigations Consulting Directory is a hub where early childhood organizations that need consultants can search and find their profiles at no cost.

If you are here reading about my background, you must need a marketing and business consultant. If you are looking for someone who will help your business grow and thrive, I hope you will consider me.  I started Engagement Strategies to lend you my expertise and my time. I hope you will review my LinkedIn profile, my profile on Early Childhood Investigations Consultants Directory, and contact me to talk about your needs and how I can help your business or your worthy cause.