We were lucky to catch up with Deatra Starling-Kinard recently and have shared our conversation below.
Deatra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
STAR stands for Scholars That Achieve Results. We believe that all scholars can be coached from good to great…achieving results that showed the scholars were willing to do the work.
Deatra, 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?
STAR Academic Services have a responsibility to support and assist our scholars throughout their academic journey by finding ways to achieve results beyond the traditional classroom practices. We create an environment that empowers the scholars to be independent learners by engaging them with reflective questions, enhancing their understanding, and providing a more targeted and proactive learning experience.
We are not tutors or teachers; we are PARTNERS in the scholar’s success.
We coach our scholars from good to GREAT.
We capitalize on the scholars’ strengths so that they can be internally motivated, causing there to be a transformational impact on the scholars’ growth.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
In 2019 and after 21 years, I seemingly was on a path of coaching teachers, but my administration wanted me to return to the classroom with students. I didn’t want to convince any one of my greatness and value of being a coach and an experienced educator. So I decided to seek an attractive alternative: coaching in another district. I began to wonder about my future as an Instructional Coach, but I was not quite ready to make that change to another district after 19 years at one school. Yet, an opportunity was presented at a smaller district, where I felt I could apply everything I had learned about coaching and be closer to my only child: a precocious 2nd grader (at the time). By the time I accepted the position, it was clear that I was not ready to walk in faith, and I was financially dependent on having an higher income. So I decided to stay in my comfort zone, which I knew would delay STAR Academic Services’ incorporation.
Still, I agonized and prayed for months over whether to focus exclusively on working for a district or on my son’s education (moving him from a public school to being home schooled) and being the Chief Educator of STAR Academic Services.
I have been provided private tutoring and academic/ instructional support for scholars for more than 20 years. However, there was always a salary that kept me tied to the district’s system. Nevertheless, I passionately enjoyed the coaching conversations with the teachers and the joys on their faces as we created action plans for success for all students.
When I got off work at 3:30p, I was energized because my passion was sparked by the flow of scholars who flooded my home to get better grades, higher scores on the STAAR, ACT, and SAT, and the confidence to move from good to excellent.
As a result, I made the choice: myself ( and my family). I started this uncharted journey by reflecting on a quote my dad often shared from Les Brown, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” I landed among STAR Academic Services, where I was able to form partnerships with parents and scholars who were gratefully and appreciatively seeking all the services I had to offer.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Parent-to-parent referrals have been the most effective strategy for growing our clientele. To give our parents something to share and to compete with larger tutoring companies, we offer educational experiences and learning opportunities that are beyond exceptional: 2 scholars to 1 coach ratio, attendance or representation at parent/teacher conferences, research-based strategies with best practices, programs to prevent summer slide, and participation in community service activities.
Contact Info:
- Website: staracademicinc.com
- Facebook: @mrsdea