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

Claudine, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In 2018, I was an Assistant Principal at a high performing Middle School in Atlanta. I deeply loved my work, my community, and the people I was lucky enough to serve. At this particular time though I was really struggling in my motherhood journey. My son bounced into the terrible 2’s and was giving my husband and I the business. Also at the time he was in a daycare where I had to make special arrangements to drop him off at 5:30 AM. I’d rush home at the end of a long workday supporting 350 students and 25 staff members dreadfully trying to muster up the energy to give my busy toddler whatever fleeting bits I had left around 6:30 PM. I had been reflecting a lot on how my mother parented me, particularly in those early years, and I remember her being super present. It looked like her getting out of work at 3:30, picking me up from my local library, taking me home, ensuring that homework got done, as well as feeding and washing and we even had time to watch shows, slowing down enough to laugh together daily. I felt consumed with guilt that my young son wasn’t getting an iota of that presence and I began to feel incredibly conflicted. The work that I did had a task list that was ever growing no matter how hard you worked, but I knew continuing to go forward in this manner wasn’t sustainable for me and I also wasn’t giving my son the best version of myself. So, I took all of these jumbled feelings into work, day after day and because I wasn’t speaking about it to anyone, and I became the worst version of myself. This looked like an incredibly tired leader who wasn’t taking care of herself, it looked like rides to work where I’d imagine crashing into a ditch and that alternative seemed more pleasant at times. It was at this point I knew something was drastically wrong, so I spoke to my partner, my loving husband, my other half and let me tell you that black man wrapped me in a blanket of love.

He found me a phenomenal black therapist and waited patiently as I slowly healed. Through this new awakening I discovered that it was time for me to change things if I wanted a change in my life and in my parenting. I remember going home at Thanksgiving to visit my mom in Rhode Island, and shamefully telling her I couldn’t carry this weight anymore and that I was considering leaving my job at the end of the school year. I nervously waited for her response thinking she’d be disappointed that I didn’t have all the answers or that I wasn’t sticking in my career path and that somehow, I’d let her down. However, she reassuringly told me that no job is worth my mental health and that I’m going to be fine. It was exactly what I needed to hear in that season, and it was the final nudge that got me to go home and immediately sit down with my supervisor, the school principal, and let him know my intentions for the upcoming school year. This was one of the most challenging times in my life, but I credit my support system who propped me up over the next six months to finish the rest of the year and then take a leap of faith to start my own consulting business known as Restore More. In terms of how it’s going, abundantly beautiful, we are thriving and heading into year 4 in business. I get to do incredibly important work, where I get to support kids, educators, and parents around the country. I am literally living out of my dream on a daily basis and couldn’t be more grateful for that leap.

Claudine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Claudine Miles, but I was born Claudine Varela. I am from an incredibly small town called East Providence in Rhode Island. It is that unique tight knit community that dared me to believe that all things are possible, so leaving that space to go to the school 20 hours away was definitely culture shock to say the least. Luckily for me I chose an HBCU, the Hampton University which allowed me to grow, be molded, and get support from peers and leaders in a special way that only HBCUs know how to do. At Hampton I initially thought I would major in journalism gracing America’s TV screens reporting the news daily. Unfortunately, I was quickly humbled when I took the school of journalism’s entrance exam and didn’t pass on my first try! Instead, I declared myself an English major thinking that strong writing skills could and would end me up in the same place. However, life had a different plan, and my passions were stirred when I started substitute teaching in the local Hampton City Schools district to earn extra money since I had my own apartment. I instantly knew the classroom was magic and I wanted to perform in it daily. I loved seeing kids learn and grow and being able to relate to them came easy to me so a few months later when the recession hit, and people started panicking about jobs and the lack thereof I was pretty clear that I wanted to be a teacher and knew that there would always be a school in need of good teachers.

Around this time Teach For America had started coming to my school to recruit folks and I saw this as the perfect opportunity to navigate my way into teaching as I hadn’t majored in education traditionally. The application and interview process was incredibly intense and after the third round I was exhausted, but to my delight I got the job and was made an offer. I even got my first choice in placement city and began my move to Atlanta in the summer of 2008. Fast forward 10 years later and during my stay at my placement school I had been the 6th Grade Science Teacher, the 6th Grade Level Chair, the Gifted Coordinator, the Upper School Dean, and the Dean of Restorative Practices. Additionally, I won Teacher of the Year and we won Charter School of the Year. When I think about my incredibly fast growth in my career it was because I had phenomenal coaches, I was humble and took direction, and I had an intense desire to get better because my kids deserved it.

After an amazing decade it was time to transition into something new, into something exciting, and into something that still allowed me to use my gifts for the benefit of more kids and more teachers and that was the beginning of Restore More. We exist to help organizations, primarily schools, build capacity with Restorative Practices, Anti-Racism, Teacher Wellness, and Social-Emotional Learning. We do this by offering Professional Development, Online Courses, Student Curriculum, and Parent Workshops. We love to help Title I principals who desire to grow their teacher’s skills by offering high energy, customized learning experiences unlike traditional teacher development. The goal is to give educators tools to keep kids in class, suspend less and help parents discipline from a place of love. In our short four years we’ve been incredibly busy and been able to serve 17,000 Parents, 18,000 Educators/Leaders, and 107,000 Students.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In the spring of 2020 Covid hit everyone like a ton of bricks, and of course Restore More was no exception. We were just starting to hit our stride, booking consistent clients and serving nationwide, showing up in schools and being incredibly proud of the pace in which we were expanding, and then like the plague Covid-19 kindly ushered us into our homes and told us to have several seats. With more sessions on the books we had to quickly figure out how to transition what we do in person in our unique highly engaging way and transfer that into an online format. What seems like a common daily practice now, then was mysterious and overwhelming, but we began exploring virtual platforms before settling upon Zoom which had the most familiarity with our clients. We quickly learned how to use the platform and how to transition all of our content into a way that was just as meaningful and equally as fun. The wild part was this happened in a 36-hour timeframe. because that’s how quick Covid uprooted the education sector. Now couple this experience with another challenge, which was the summer of 2020. It showcased a collective peak frustration with racial injustice that has been brewing in our country for centuries. The unjust murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were catalysts to the pain and suffering we saw play out in America’s streets. As a result, we had never been busier. So many schools and organizations were reaching out to fight back against racial injustice, to learn more about anti-racism, and to work through policies that weren’t equitable. While we were honored to do the work, it was also incredibly overwhelming. As we personally marched in the streets, we also carried this enormous weight to try and lead people through a racial reckoning which was beautiful and challenging. We got to work with thousands of people across the country to grow their collective consciousness and learn how to be better humans right alongside them. I am grateful for every experience in the last couple of years that has hurt in the moment but has grown us beyond my wildest expectations.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I think what’s helped me succeed in my field is tapping into the various networks I’m a part of and collaborating with others. I’m constantly thinking about who I can connect with and how they can serve one another or how that introduction can lead to better experiences for those particular communities. I also think my optimistic outlook on life in general is well suited for entrepreneurship. It’s incredibly hard to keep a positive mindset when 90% of the work is putting yourself out there while accepting rejection daily and getting up to do it over and over again. Rather than look at the “NO’s” as a sign of my inadequacy, I genuinely assume the best. Maybe there was a firm that could do the work faster, maybe there was a firm that was closer and could accommodate the dates requested, maybe we were outside of their price range, or maybe the board vetoed the notion of engaging with a firm unapologetically anti-racist. Regardless of the many reasons, I genuinely don’t internalize them deeply and in the few cases where I am given pause, I practice the method of reframing my thinking to rewrite the story I’m telling myself, so I don’t get stuck in a rut. Every no is an opportunity to learn. I’m going to learn from each NO and then attack the problem in the very near future and be more successful because of this mindset. As I’ve gotten older it’s clear to me that the way I think and see things is an asset, because it makes me tenacious, and it keeps me hungry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.werestoremore.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/werestoremore
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Werestoremore/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/werestore-more/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/werestoremore?lang=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVmMpQjlSnd4HM4OVmCjtrg
• Other: Tik Tok: @werestoremore

Image Credits
@GettyImages