We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keedar Whittle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Keedar, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

If the education system was bold enough to evolve as other industries have, we will then get to a point where community partnerships happen in early learning years and continue through highschool and beyond. As an entrepreneur, one of the best assets for our company, Educators Now, is talent…like MOST companies. The top talent should manifest the top results. Businesses, small and large, should be true stakeholders in education. As our scholars get older we can be even more intentional and strategic with our community partnerships. It may be easier to tell a kid to learn how to read if we give him or her a relatable and tangible reason. If we fostered a community based learning model, when students are graduating highschool, they have learned a skill or developed a mindset that will allow them to compete in the work field immediately. For those that are going to college, there are businesses that are now available for internships, summer employment and first career positions. This is a way to create genuine interests, city moral and a stronger workforce through entrepreneurship or skilled professionals which will prepare our students for a more fulfilled life and career.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started as an 8th grade Special Education teacher in College Park, Ga and later became a Science Coordinator for 3 middle schools in the Boston area. While in Boston, I auditioned for a play and got it! My whole life I’ve wanted to act or do something in entertainment but that was NOT a way to make a living according to my parents. I concentrated on sports and academics so at my first opportunity to dive into the arts, I did. I later left Boston and moved to New York City to pursue the arts fulltime at Circle in the Square Theatre where I trained and performed on Broadway for 2 years. The goal was always TV and film and at the time LA had way more of that to offer so I left for the leftcoast and stayed for 13 years appearing in many tv shows, films, commercials and even touring the world doing standup comedy. I’ve always known education is my calling in life so 5 years ago, now married with children, we moved to Atlanta to pursue life with different goals in mind. Well 20 years has past since I’ve worked for someone so my mom suggested I start my own substitute teaching staffing agency and hear we are 5 years later The #1 Substitute Teacher Staffing Agency in the Southeast. When I started the company I was bartending just to make sure I was contributing to the house. I never expected or wanted to my to ever feel like she was doing it on her own. We finally got our 1st partnership of 4 schools and it’s a blessing in such a short period of time we service over a hundred schools, responsible for paying over 250 people a week as well as over 15 core employees.
It’s important to find a niche. I found a niche in staffing but an even deeper niche in education. There is NO WAY NO HOW you can get me staff anything outside of dealing with children. We currently staff childcare facilities, grade schools, afterschool programs and group homes. We also live by our Core Values; QUALITY(which will always be in All CAPS), Passionate, Intentional, Influential, Leader. Simplyby us staying in our lane and living by our Core Values, we are given the opportunity to serve many scholars, schools and communities.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Oooooooo I will be that old business owner that had to tell the story of pivoting due to natural disaster. In sentence before, the most important word is “will” because 1. We made it out of Covid and 2. We were determined to make it out of Covid. We staff substitute teachers to schools…we charge the school based on the work…the schools pay us based on our agreement for the work…BOOM…that’s business. Well what do you do if there are no schools to send subs too? Here’s what I do know about education in America, we haven’t gone without it in our modern days. Therefore if it’s not happening in schools, where is it happening. I like many parents became the school house, principal, cafeteria staff, janitors, the assistant teacher, the counselor, the field trip coordinator and o yeah…the teacher…which there was a show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” for a reason. Sidenote: I am smarter than a 5th grader but they way they do math these days made me feel like I wasn’t and my children didn’t want to learn my “old” way because it’s not the way they were being taught. So after being a frustrated parent that 1st week, instead of sending substitute teachers to the schools, we deployed those same teachers into parents’ homes to help with virtual learning. Making the pivot to a “pod style” or “tutoring services” business model, we were able to make the connections directly to the new “school house”. For us, we knew NO disaster lasts forever and eventually we would be needed even more when schools are back open. We still operate “Tutors on Demand” for in person tutoring and we are grateful we held on because our reach has increased by 35% since the pandemic.

Any advice for managing a team?

Culture, Vibes, Energy are new buzz words that describe high morale in the workplace and beyond! Let’s start here…Money is not the answer to the solution. At some point money depreciates by time, experience or increased lifestyle. So once money is returned to it’s natural state of colored paper, what can your company offer? For us, we are partnered with organizations that help our subs obtain certifications and degrees in education for free and get a stipend while doing going to school. We also give our employees 2 weeks a year in which the company is “dark”. Which means, nobody from the office is available to speak to that week. We also open up every Monday employee meeting with 5 mins of talking about personal good news. Sharing personal news gives an opportunity to connect on a deeper level outside of work as well. We have run into a challenge from growing from a 3 person to a 12-15 person office. We have had to create SOPs around work related events, company outings and celebrations as well as well HR communication protocols. Team building exercises, praise for the work being produced and growth opportunities within has kept the morale high during our growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: educatorsnowllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keedar/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keedar.whittle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keedarwhittle/