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

Alright, Lisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to start your own firm or do you wish you had started sooner?

I had always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher since I was a little girl. I got married at 18, moved 1400 miles from home, and never went to college. Three years after being married, I got pregnant with my first baby, followed by two more babies (every other year). Within five years at age 26, I had three little girls. I couldn’t go to college. Fast forward ten years, I was separated from my husband. After many years of separation, we finally got divorced. I decided to go to college at age 43. My oldest daughter had a baby girl but never bonded or took responsibility for her, so my friend and I decided to tackle motherhood again. My friend had 3 boys and had recently been divorced. So together, we had 6 kids and a newborn. I remember doing homework, sitting at my computer with a baby in one arm situated in a manner that I could type and do homework. During the course of my college, I would eventually adopt my granddaughter; I had a new baby girl. I continued with college for 7 more years to get my bachelor’s degree in education. I finished my student teaching and landed a job in special education at our local high school working with students with special needs. I didn’t have my endorsement for special education, so back to school I go. I think the program was 18 months for me to complete the courses for my endorsement. I couldn’t pay my students loans, so to put me in a higher pay scale, I continued in college (while working full time and my new little girl) to receive my master’s degree in special education. I was 53 when I completed that.

Looking back, I wish I would have gone to college right after I graduated high school instead of waiting 24 years later. It was difficult returning after all those years. And when I had finished with my master’s, I’d I had gone to school earlier, I would have been retiring from education instead of receiving my master’s at age 53.

It was definitely a great experience and being able to adopt my grand baby was truly a blessing for myself and my friend, Cheryl. Abby was the glue that held our lives together. 20 years later, Cheryl and I raised Abby who is now graduated from beauty school and ready to embark a new live as a young professional.

I am still working In education where I’m awaiting three more years to retirement.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

One of my younger daughters was in special education during her entire schooling, so I had a strong desire to help students who struggled academically; however, I never really thought about being an educator for students with special needs. This position can be very difficult and trying a lot of times. You have so many different realms of needs from individuals who depend on you for everything like diapering to feeding to taking you out of their wheelchair to stretch their body to interactions with them all the way up to students who are verbal that can joke and prank you yet struggle academically and will be higher than a 3rd/4th grader BUT can learn life skill situations and obtain and maintain a minimal repetitious job. Some students are very autistic, some have Down’s Syndrome who are verbal and others nonverbal. Some students have multiple disabilities while others have intellectual disabilities. In my program, students have a typical graduation but they return to school to participate in the 18-21 program where they gain community based experiences and stay learning until they are 21 years of age.

The job can be very challenging but so rewarding. It has been the greatest career move for me. I have grown as an individual knowing and working with these students.

I am most proud to say I have over 10 years experience with special needs. I have seen some of my students become productive members of their community.

Any advice for managing a team?

I don’t own the business of my profession as the readers can see; however, I have had to manage my team of paraprofessionals. I think what made us successful as a team was the fact that I placed us all on the same level of the playing field. By that I mean, I told my paras that just because I’m the teacher and your the para doesn’t mean that I above you. I want us to be equal when it comes to ideas, strategies working with students, etc. Yes, I’m responsible for what happens in the classroom and make the final decisions, but you have a voice and it should be heard, so in that respect we are on the same level. If we were working with a student and we’re struggling with them, at any time, we’d tag team off and switch students. It was great because we worked as a team and not against each other.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think being honest, hard work and dedication helped me build a good reputation and working relationship with parents. I build trust in my parents. They knew that their child was safe in my car at school.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hometown-deliveries.com
• Instagram: lisajames61