We were lucky to catch up with Paola Rosado recently and have shared our conversation below.

Paola, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The idea started quickly after moving to Orlando from Puerto Rico, and realizing we couldn’t find a childcare facility that had all the things we were looking for as a family. We thought since Orlando had a big Hispanic population it would be easy to find the type of childcare we were used to in our country; with the language (Spanish), the homecooked healthy meals, the education “tipo escuelita”, the customer service, etc. To our surprise there weren’t any in the area at that time. So, we were left with two options either we created one ourselves with everything we wanted for our kids, or we had to settle for what was available at the time. And knowing that those first years are the most important, to settle was not an option for us. So, we started embracing the idea and viability of starting our family business based on our own needs. Me and my husband were working full time jobs at the time in the corporate world and had never owned a business before, so it took us four long years. We would work on our business plan on weekends, and late evenings and quickly realized everything we wanted in a preschool was setting us apart and was very different from childcare center and preschools in the area.

Paola, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We moved to Orlando from Puerto Rico 11 years ago with our then 9-month-old son. My husband was in the accounting corporate world, and I had been 12+ years in pharmaceutical & medical sales so we never in million years thought we would be business owners in the childcare/preschool industry, but life had other plans and it ended up being our calling. After four years of hard work, sweat & tears, we opened our doors in 2017 to our first Building Brains Academy location. We are grateful that many other families/parents share our same need & vision and their word-of-mouth recommendations had been the reason for our growth and success. Our offerings are very different to any other childcare with the Language Immersion approach including Spanish, English, Mandarin, & French; healthy nutrition with homecooked meals; smaller classrooms settings than the traditional childcare; a multicultural international curriculum that focuses on critical thinking; and a nurturing and safe environment for children to thrive.
Also, as a small business provider it makes us extremely grateful to be the employer and provider to 50+ amazing teacher’s and personnel. In an industry where turnover is very high, we have been able to maintain a very low one and create a career for them.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

From our very first start we were defying the odds. We had never owned a business before, so banks and lenders made it very difficult for us, especially since our background was not in education. Also, the fact that we were not purchasing a “proven” franchise but rather creating a brand and business ourselves from scratch was a big no no for many. I remember we were days away from “our first closing” and the bank calls and says “sorry, it’s too much of a risk for us, we won’t be able to move forward”. Rather than this stopping us we kept shifting and never giving up. So, our big idea of opening with a stand-alone state of the art facility was modified into a small but cozy facility of about 4,000 sq. feet. We were in a plaza with a detached playground which was not very appealing, but we were determined to make this space amazing and safe for our new children and families. At the very beginning I overheard someone saying, “she’s not going to make it; they are in a plaza” and I thought to myself “just watch and see”…… that was 2017. Seven years later we are now at the facility of our dreams with 15,000 sq. feet and a proven business that is grateful to provide a career to more than 50 people. Everything you put your heart and mind to do, do it with excellence and you can achieve and never ever give up.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Like any business owner, you should put your heart into your business, and work on it every single day, never think it will work by itself. From the start, our involvement to ensure that what we offered was delivered with the care and quality I expected has been key. Having children under your care it’s a huge responsibility that we never took lightly so ensuring our vision and mission is delivered has been fundamental. The word-of-mouth and recommendation of our own customers/parents to others has been our best marketing and that itself had said a lot about us within the industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.buildingbrainsacademy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbrainsacademy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuildingBrainsAcademy/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/building-brains-academy-st-cloud