We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kayla Schadegg. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kayla below.

Alright, Kayla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve worked in the early childhood/children’s activity industry for about 13 years. Many of those years were spent working in a franchise environment, and I always felt so horrible when people would say “I really wish you had XYZ,” because a lot of the time I just didn’t have the flexibility in that model to be able to provide the options and solutions that caregivers were clearly wanting. I’ve always known that I wanted to own my own business, and it became really clear to me a few years ago that I needed to branch out for that to happen. I spent most of the last year thinking about all of the things I’ve loved about my jobs in the industry, and all of the things that caregivers have put on their “wish list” of what a space for their family would look like — and during that time, I went to a work event at a play cafe business in another part of our state. I immediately fell in love with the flexibility and all of the ways I knew this business model could meet the needs of our local children and families that aren’t currently being met. I love that I’m getting to continue in the line of work I’m so passionate about, while also creating something entirely new and fluid from scratch!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have a 13-year history in the early childhood & children’s activity industry — but I actually started my career as a high school teacher! I got my BSE in English from Emporia State University in 2013, and when I relocated to Maryland to live with my husband who was stationed there with the Marine Corps, I took a job teaching little kid activity classes at a local franchise. I fell in love with the environment and the families and ended up never going back to teaching English. I am a huge proponent of movement and play being critical to development and learning for littles, and I have seen time and time again how critical it is in my own two children, especially my oldest, who has Down syndrome. I know it’s so important to see and recognize each child as an individual, and I know how empowering it is for that child when something finally “clicks” because they’re given access to the right tools and processes. Because of my deep background in the industry & our family’s disability experience, it was absolutely vital to us that the space we create be a place that’s truly accessible and a community hub for ALL families. So many elements of our play cafe have taken hours and hours of design and intention, but we want to ensure that if we can add accessibility and encourage families to feel comfortable and safe in our space, we do it.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We have had really great success with social media from the get-go on this project. I have managed grassroots small business social media accounts for probably 10 or more small businesses over the years, and I have never seen this kind of immediate and resounding community support. I think the key is that my voice as a business owner is so engrained into the social media presence. A lot of families in the community know me from other programs or community events, so they know my energy and share with friends — who then feel like they know me immediately through our social media posts. That genuine personality and the bond people build with you because of that, even just through a social media post, is so unique — my goal is always that any caregiver visiting our social media would immediately think to themselves “oh, this mom gets it! She understands my life and what my family needs!”

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I have learned so much in over a decade of managing teams that were ever evolving and changing shape, and the most important thing is this: you have to make your staff feel seen, heard, and understood. That means developing real, authentic relationships with them, and sometimes inconveniencing yourself as a manager or owner to help them be successful. It means spending time with your team outside of the work environment, investing in their interests, and truly understanding what motivates each person and makes them tick. It’s extremely time consuming, but at the end of the day, all of that work creates a cohesive team that keep things running smoothly and have each other’s backs through thick and thin. Where your focus goes, energy flows — if you pour into your staff, they’ll pour into you & your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tothestarsplaycafe.com (will go live in a few weeks!)
• Instagram: @tothestarsplaycafe
• Facebook: @tothestarsplaycafe