Prioritizing Your Time As An Early Educator
s care providers, it often becomes natural to neglect our own needs. We use up all our time making sure the children in our care are happy and cared for, often at the expense of...
In January 2020, 29 teachers of Ethiopian descent marked their completion of the Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™. They celebrated this achievement at an event hosted by the Council for Professional Recognition in its historic headquarters building in Washington, DC. And the teachers were making history, too, since they were the first Ethiopians to earn the CDA® in their native language of Amharic. This achievement reflected the initiative and support of CentroNía, a bilingual DC program that provides quality early learning to underserved children and chances for professional growth to early childhood teachers.
Representatives from CentroNía attended the event, along with members of Council staff. So did Desta, an early childhood teacher at DC Bilingual Public Charter School, a native Ethiopian and a Professional Development Specialist who’s guided many Amharic-speaking candidates in earning their CDA. She, too, had earned her credential at CentroNía, and it was where she began her career in the ECE field. “I loved CentroNía,” she says. “It was like a home for me when I came to DC, where everything was strange and new. It was hard to adjust to a new climate, new culture and new language,” she says. It was also hard to find a job though she had earned a degree in electrical engineering in Bulgaria before moving to Italy and then the U.S.
By the time, she came to this country in 2002, she had two young children and her career plans changed. “I loved being with my kids,” Desta says. So, she looked for a career that would let her be with them while she worked. She found it a couple of years later after enrolling her son in CentroNía. “I loved the welcoming culture that I encountered there,” Desta says. “I also loved being around all the children, so I began serving there as a volunteer. And while I was doing that, I learned about the CDA. I wanted to improve myself and earned my credential in 2004.”
This was way before 2018 when CentroNía started its Amharic CDA program, so Desta had to earn her credential in English. “It was hard though I had been taking ESL classes for a while,” Desta says. “I still was anxious about speaking English, but I believe if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” And Desta’s sense of determination paid off. “Earning a CDA allowed me to become an ECE professional,” Desta says. And it led to a job as an assistant teacher at CentroNía, where she remained until 2015.
Desta enjoyed her work though it also required her to go outside her comfort zone. “As a teacher, you have to speak in front of a classroom of children and you have to communicate with parents. That scared me a little bit because I don’t talk a lot and I’m naturally shy,” she says. But that didn’t stop her from building bonds with the children and forming warm friendships with her coworkers in the program.
The two who stand out in her mind served as both mentors and friends, with whom she’s still in touch. One was Sebawit Yirsaw, a fellow Ethiopian, who’s played a key role in the Amharic CDA program and encouraged her to become a Professional Development Specialist who could guide and assess candidates for the CDA. Another was Eva, a lead teacher from Cuba with whom Desta worked for about eight years in the same classroom. “We had a great time together and she shared her experiences to spur me to go beyond what I had already done. She felt I was a great teacher and should get a degree and take the next step in my career.”
Desta took her advice and in 2015, she earned her AA, leading to her current job at DC Bilingual Public Charter School. Desta was sad about leaving her colleagues, but the new job paid more because it was in a public school, and it offered more opportunities to advance. Again, there were challenges since many of the children spoke Spanish, but Desta’s knowledge of Italian, a close relative of Spanish, allowed her to bridge the language barrier very fast. And she had a particular success with a little boy named Thomas who she worked with about four years ago.
“He was three years old,” Desta recalls, “and he wasn’t talking at all either at home or at school. We thought it was a speech problem, so we helped him all we could and got him the therapy he needed. After six months, he finally began speaking a little, but his first word wasn’t mama or papa, like you’d expect. It was Desta, and that made me super happy,” Desta says. “Now he’s in fourth grade, and I’m glad to report that he’s speaking both English and Spanish very well.”
But successes like this didn’t make Desta forget about the wonderful years she had spent at CentroNía, and she still wanted to help the Ethiopian community from which she had come. Some of the children she’s served at the charter school come from Ethiopian backgrounds, and she exposes the class to their culture by talking about Ethiopian food, language and dress. “We should be sensitive and respectful of each other’s culture,” Desta says. And it’s important to promote acceptance of these Amharic-speaking children since the DC region now has the largest Ethiopian population in the United States.
CentroNía has been serving increasing numbers of Ethiopian families in recent decades, and many of the moms wanted to earn their CDAs. But the center had to turn them away since they lacked the skills in English that Desta had worked hard to pick up. She had served as a Professional Development Specialist for the few Amharic-speaking women that CentroNía did accept into its CDA program over the years. It was hard for the women to earn their credential since someone had to translate all the CDA materials for them, including the CDA exam. That made the women nervous, and Desta did her best to calm them down before they went through their observation, and especially when they took the test.
“The women do better when they’re working with materials in their own language,” Desta says. And that’s been the case since 2018 when CentroNía launched the Amharic CDA. The center has provided the students in the program with Amharic-speaking teachers, including Desta’s friend, Sebawit, and arranged for translation of all the CDA materials, including the exam.
These steps have boosted the number of Amharic-speaking candidates for the CDA and increased the demand for the services Desta provides as a PD Specialist for the Council. “I’m happy to guide and encourage them because it’s a way to give back to my community,” she says. “The number of Amharic-speaking children keeps growing, so we need more qualified bilingual teachers to serve them. CentroNía’s Amharic CDA program is good for the children and it’s good for the teachers, too,” as Desta has seen.
“They’re so happy when they pass the exam and get prepared to pursue their career. I’m also happy to see them succeed,” she says. “And I want to keep growing as an ECE professional, so I can help more members of my community, like those 29 Amharic-speaking CDAs who I joined in 2020 at the Council event. When they celebrate, I celebrate, too.”
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Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
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