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

Lydia, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I grew up and went to school in Chicago. When I attended college downtown, I worked as a part-time nanny to help afford tuition and board. The family that I worked for had three young children and one parent who traveled extensively for work. My hours with their family were Monday through Friday in the afternoons and usually Saturday nights. I loved working with this family because they were kind, the children were so much fun to be with, and they treated me like part of the family. There were many aspects of that position that I enjoyed and were well-suited to my childcare skillset. One of the biggest perks of the job was that I got to travel with the family to exciting destinations when they went on family trips. I spent time in Big Sky (Montana), St. Barts, and Cabo to name a few. When I graduated college and went to work full-time in finance, the mother of the family I worked for asked if I might know anyone who could continue with their family in the nanny position. I immediately thought, “Who wouldn’t want this job?!” It was fun, flexible, and very rewarding. Her request made me realize that there were likely many other families in a similar position who had school-aged children and were looking for an extra set on hands in the afternoons. More than that, when I spent time researching where to find people like this, I realized that college students and college graduates specifically were almost a forgotten population. It was assumed that if you held a college degree, you likely would not want to work as a nanny and if you did, that you would not be a long-term option. But I knew families needed a more dynamic nanny than what was available with traditional nanny agencies. These busy, professional families needed someone college-educated who was also energetic, dynamic, and uniquely suited to meet their needs as a growing family. I launched Chicago Collegiate Nannies (now called Sommet Nannies) with that concept and vision in mind.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Lydia Thibodeau and I live with my husband and our two energetic toddlers in New Hampshire. I started Sommet Nannies 10 years ago with the vision of providing a connection to a new type of caregiver. These nannies had a college-education and held experience as both a teacher and a in-home nanny. They were energetic, collaborative, and able to adapt and evolve as the family’s needs changed. After working as a nanny both before and during college, I realized that the nanny placement agency options available to families in Chicago discounted a very important group of potential nannies. Sommet Nannies launched in 2015 with the mission of connecting college-educated nannies with busy, professional families. Our agency is differentiated from our competitors by our candidates’ unique educational backgrounds and qualifications but also by the superior customer service and support that we provide throughout the relationship. Sommet Nannies core business focuses on placing full-time, salaried nannies but we also offer other domestic staffing solutions such as: housekeepers, household managers, chefs, and personal assistants. We staff these positions nation-wide, but have a specific focus on Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington DC.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When our company launched, it was called Chicago Collegiate Nannies. The idea behind the name was centered around the fact that much of our recruiting was done from college campuses and we wanted to emphasize our nannies’ collegiate backgrounds. Our agency grew quickly and after 3 years in business, we knew we wanted to offer our services in a second location. After extensive market research, we chose Boston. To keep a local feel and approach, we named that branch Boston Collegiate Nannies. You know how the story goes…the next location would have been New York Collegiate Nannies and so forth. What was originally thought to offer a local approach and aid with SEO, ended up being a confusing headache. We were constantly confused with a different company (College Nannies and Tutors) and lost market share by some families falsely thinking that all of our nannies were college students instead of college graduates. All of these challenges were making me feel that a rebrand and name change might be appropriate. What finally pushed me to make the change was when Covid happened. Our families were relocating all over the country and they still wanted to work with our agency to find the right nanny fit. During Covid, we ended our office leases in Boston and Chicago and moved all interviews with families and nannies online. The success that we saw from this made us realize that we could continue remote placements even after Covid ended and also help more families outside of our core cities. To keep branding and the overall name of the company cohesive, we rebranded to Sommet Nannies which means Pinnacle in French. Our agency embodies childcare at its peak!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Simply put, we find the best candidates and have excellent customer service. Families who came to us (even in our early days) realized that we had a very different service from what they had seen with other agencies and a unique take on recruiting. In our initial consultations with families, we took time to understand their specific needs and the type of caregiver that their children would thrive with. We worked within requested budgets and timelines to ensure the strongest match while also employing a strict due-diligence process. Families who work with us quickly realize how different our firm is and since then, we have grown almost exclusively through referrals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sommetnannies.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sommet_nannies/?igsh=MTFtYTk3ZXp5cGw5Nw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sommetnannies
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sommet-nannies-agency-chicago

Image Credits

https://www.brittanyvervillephotography.com