We recently connected with Amber Buggs and have shared our conversation below.

Amber , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My journey of being an educator has been quite different than I initially planned. After teaching in the school system for a little over 2 years, I realized that I needed to implement a program to offer my students more resources and one on one support. Our curriculums at the time were extremely rigorous and unfortunately students were falling behind. Shortly after my second year of teaching, I began tutoring after school. This birthed the vision of Ordered Steps Tutoring.

After teaching for nearly 5 years, I began my research of establishing my own preschool program because I wanted to implement curriculums that I knew would help grow my students. Unfortunately, COVID-19 hit the same year. At this time, our kids and families were home with minimal resources to encourage instruction. I began to Teach it Tuesday. Each Tuesday, I posted engaging learning tutorials on my social media as well as on Youtube. These ranged from home STEM activities to learning how to solve tricky math problems. I began providing families with interactive learning binders as well as virtual tutoring sessions.

The pandemic was my motivation to pour all I could into my community. After 5 years of teaching in the classroom, I decided to step out on faith. I now own my Family Day Home Preschool, Ordered Steps Learning Center that houses our preschool 3 and 4-year-olds as well as after-school tutoring for PreK- 5th grade.

Amber , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Amber Buggs, born and raised in the most beautiful city in the world, Memphis, TN. After graduating from The University of Memphis in 2015, my heart was set on becoming a teacher in the Memphis area. It’s always been my number one goal to pour back into the city that raised me. I am the owner and primary educator of Ordered Steps Learning Center.

I’m most proud of the growth that’s taken place over the last 3 years of owning my own business. I love that my preschoolers have access to rigorous curriculums, extra curricular activities, and have an opportunity to learn in a small, diverse learning environment.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

If I had one word to describe my experience with establishing my own business, it would be grit. It takes a lot of hard work, patience, and support to reach a milestone such as this. 2020 was a very scary year for most of us and it was at this time I resigned from my career as a classroom teacher. Although my doors were physically closed due to the pandemic, I had to push myself to think of creative ways to interact with my families and students. Some of the struggles I encountered while tutoring over the pandemic was the lack of internet access/devices for students that needed tutoring (March 2020-July 2020) Though we were all learning together, teaching virtually while adapting to life during a global pandemic was hard physically and mentally. I struggled with the thought of kids simply not learning. With the help and support from my loved ones, I was able to provide resources for most of my tutoring families. It was grit that got me through 2020! Here we are year 2022, and I am so thankful for all 2020 taught me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I had to unlearn was doing things alone. It’s almost impossible to carry the load of a business alone. It truly takes a village a lot of trust to navigate life as a business owner.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://msha.ke/orderedsteps?fbclid=PAAaajEnKcEsmefIV_ka9gsRY11facZGlHbtqLbNCkOPiLpbH9NhHpuhI9AOg
• Instagram: Orderedstepslearningcen
• Facebook: Orderedstepslearningcenter

Image Credits
Photographer: Chiqulla Brown