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

Alright, Leah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My late grandmother started doing childcare in 2006 until about 6 months before her passing in 2021. As a child, coming to my grandmother’s house, or “mommy” as we called her, it was never just going over there and only seeing her. We were always greeted with multiple kids she cared for through the days and nights. It started by my siblings and I going over there and playing with the other children, to us becoming actively involved in her childcare by helping her care for the children. I’ve always had a passion for children and all the kids loved me. My grandmother said it was because of my sweet spirit and that children could sense that. I always knew I wanted to do something with children in my career, with even dreams of becoming a school teacher, but for some reason, the word “childcare” did not even cross my mind. In 2020 during the brink of Covid-19, I was working at Panera Bread as an assistant manager, with offers to become a general manager. During that time, we also found out my grandmother was getting sick. As we would visit her occasionally and help her out with the children, she mentioned to everyone that I would be a good candidate for running a daycare. Even then, I did not see myself doing child care, so I prayed about it. She knew her health wouldn’t allow her to, but she kept caring for children as long as she could. I felt it was my duty to continue the legacy and continue to make positive impacts in the lives of children and families as she did. One day we noticed the house next door to her was being put up for sale. My grandma helped us purchase that house to run a childcare facility in. I quit my job at Panera and declined the promotion offer and my grandma helped me get all the required certifications for running a childcare. For the first four months, we had both daycare’s up and running, while slowly preparing for the closing of my grandmother’s. Her health would then refrain her for caring for children, so we eventually migrated all of the kids into our care. We knew that opening any business during Covid would be a challenge. We decided on ways to overcome the challenges and began not only offering child care for those not old enough to attend school, but we also offered remote schooling as well. My business is constantly growing as we are reaching way more people than I thought we would and we are really helping families by not just caring for their children, but supporting them and aiding them in any way they need. Our current goal is to expand our care into a bigger facility, while caring for 10 times the number of children we are allowed to care for right now, We plan to also establish a non-profit outreach organization to help families in need get the financial, physical, and emotional support they need.

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

I am 26 years old and I have my own child care program. I’ve been having it for about 3 years and it is constantly growing. I got into the business by my grandmother who had her own child care for 15 years, suggested that I become a child care provider myself and take over hers once she fell sick. I provide care for children from birth 6 days a week and am open from 6am until 11pm. I also offer transportation services to families that need help getting their children to and from child care. I focus on the enhance of growth and development of children in every aspect such as their physical, mental, social and emotional development. I incorporate non-traditional practices in my work such as affirmations, and yoga. Very frequently, I take the children on field trips to various places so that they are able to explore the outside world and open their imaginations. I focus on creating a positive and uplifting environment for everyone involved in my program. I also support my staff very well and make sure they always have a voice and are taken care of. I am always looking at ways to better my program, with knowing that the change starts with me. I always lead with humility and integrity and am not afraid of hard work. As the ages of children I care for are the most crucial and influential stages of life, it is my duty to ensure they have a positive and fruitful experience that will only help them as the continue to grow. Growth is my favorite part of life, and it is my passion to help and see everyone around me grow as I am constantly growing myself.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is a big part of our society in today’s world. It is one of the biggest marketing platforms out there. You have to use it to your advantage. People want to see your products/services before they buy. I used every social media platform to promote my business. I figured out my target audience and began following one after another, after another. Being on social media, a news cast reached out and wanted to do a segment on my business. I accepted the offer and did the interview, and my business was all over the local news. That’s what really brought in the audience and I began interacting with them by going live, sharing their posts, and always posting pictures and updates on my business. To this day I am still getting calls left and right and they are people who’ve seen us on social media. Definitely take advantage of this platform and use it to promote and grow your business, It really is one of the best advertisements, next to word-of-mouth.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My advice is to separate business and personal, but that does not mean take out the personal completely. Building relationships is key to creating a strong foundation and a strong team. Always lead with integrity, allowing your workers to trust you as their boss. They should in no way shape or form feel like they are below you as and individual. Demand respect with the knowledge of knowing respect goes both ways. Keep in mind that a team has the same goals. Always find ways to work together to improve your business and it’s environment. You are the example, as you lead with integrity, the team will follow your footsteps.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: alfordkidsacademy
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/alfordkidsacademy