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

Milisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success is such an interesting topic. I often think about how I define my own success which brings me to my goals that I set for myself. I am a huge list maker and goal setter. I have daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and multiple year goals. I have Goal Tracker Forms that I have created for each of these goal categories. I think that success is based on intentional work. When I set goals, I am being intentional about how I want to focus my time and effort. I define my success based on how well I achieve my own goals.

Milisa, 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?

I am a visual artist, writer, teacher, speaker and business owner. I am also a mom of two adult sons (25 and 27) and I have been married to my husband for 31 years. At any given moment, I have a lot of things going on! The business I own was started by my mother in 1980 and I worked with her for 30 years. She passed away in 2021 and I have inherited the company which is a small year round early childhood school and a large summer day camp on Cape Cod. I have 25 year round employees and an additional 75 seasonal folks who join the team of educators in the summer. I live in Providence, RI where I have an 800 foot art studio in an old mill building. I go to my studio about 4 days a week and I am on Cape Cod at the 4 acre property where the school and the camp are located another 3 days a week. I basically work 7 days a week and I am always juggling art making, teaching, speaking, training, writing and administrating my business. All of these different “jobs” have a common thread: human connections. My artwork is abstract and focuses on how we interact with each other. When I teach art classes on line or as an adjunct visiting professor, my teaching focuses on the materials/techniques as well as how the students learn and grow together. I am in the process of writing a book which is an expansion of a keynote talk I have given at a few art and education conferences. The thing that I want people to know about my work is that there are lots of ways to be an artist, a writer, a speaker, a business owner, a mom, and a wife. There is no one path. The life of a creative person is all about finding your way – not THE way! Trial and error, wins and losses, successes and failures are part of my everyday experience. I am constantly self assessing and re-adjusting my goals and my expectations for myself. I have learned to be my own best friend and cheerleader. I jokingly say that I work with a wonderful board made up of three – me, myself, and I. Truthfully, I am only successful because of the teams that I have created and with which I work. Going back to the common thread of all of my work – we are all connected and in that relationship lies our power as human beings.

Any advice for managing a team?

I have recruited, interviewed, hired, trained, overseen, and mentored about 100 people each year for over 25 years – so that’s about 2500 people! My advice for managing a team and maintaining high morale is: 1. Have a very clear mission statement that is short, to the point and that everyone understands and supports.
2. Make all of your policies and procedures aligned with that mission.
3. Be clear in your exceptions about what success looks like working in your company.
4. Catch people doing it right and publicly praise them for the specific good work that you observe.
5. When mistakes happen, assess the system first (not the person). Good systems support success.
6. Give critical feedback in private and agree to check back frequently to ensure future success.
7. Use clear communication at all times – there is no room for sarcasm or meanness in the workplace.
8. Include humor, playfulness and joy in the working environment.
9. When you make a mistake as a leader, be public about your misstep in order to role model how you want your people to handle their mistakes.
10. Build trust within your team by saying what you are going to do and then doing it.
I could go on though I think this is the start of a solid list.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I worked for my mom for over thirty years. She always said it was not a family business. It was her business and I worked for her. When she was diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer and was given a few years to live, we worked hard to make a transition plan so that I would take over the company. We began executing this plan and then she changed her mind and wanted to run the company until her death. She decided to fire me and then Covid hit. This was a near death moment for the business. Luckily her other employees stepped up to fill the void. Once she died, her will stated that I was to inherit the company so I returned as owner and leader. This was five years of choppy waters that the company slogged through. Sometimes you just never know what challenges will befall your business nor how you will get through the tough times. I always say, Everything always works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out yet, it’s not the end.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.milisagalazzi.com www.brewsterdaycamp.com www.thefamilyschools.com
• Instagram: @milisagalazzi @brewsterdaycamp
• Facebook: milisagalazzi thefamilyschools brewsterdaycamp
• Linkedin: MilisaGalazzi
• Youtube: milisagalazzi brewsterdaycamp
• Yelp: brewsterdaycamp
• Other: Artsy.net/MilisaGalazzi Gallery Representation: Miller White Fine Arts on Cape Cod