Home > Newsletters > Tierra James | Going Places with the CDA®
“Oh, the places you’ll go!” Dr. Seuss exclaimed to kids in a famous book. “There is fun to be done! There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all”—words Tierra loves and reads every year to the children she serves at Growing Room Child Development Center in Georgia.
“One of the books that inspires me in my classroom work is Oh the Places You’ll Go!,” Tierra says. “I like the way Dr. Seuss explains the role that both trials and tribulations play in finding your way in life. You may start on one road and then realize you’re meant to go on another road. Then, once you find out where you belong, you’ll be okay”—a journey that Tierra went through on her road to success in the early learning profession. She was recently named by Georgia Child Care Association as its provider of the year, an honor she never imagined a few years back while taking a road to a different destination.
“I was going to college to be a theater director for young folks from preschool to high school age,” Tierra recalls. “While doing that, I began working at the Growing Room to pay for my degree. But I never finished it because I fell in love with the children. I’ve been working with them full time since 2017,” Tierra says. And her current job allows her to fulfill a childhood dream.
“When I was in second grade,” Tierra recalls, “I said in my school’s yearbook that I wanted to be a teacher.” At the time, Tierra didn’t know anything about curricula and best practices for the classroom, but she knew the key role that teachers can play in building a lifelong foundation for children. “I wanted to guide children to be good people with a sense of empathy and compassion. I believed this was a way I could make the world a better place.”
She had faith, as Dr. Seuss said, “you’ll move mountains,” and can “decide where to go,” especially when you have the right skills to succeed. And Tierra is getting them now by earning her Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™. “This is my second year working toward my CDA®,” she says, “and one of the main things I love about the credential is that it is 100 percent geared toward your career. I know that I’ll be able to put what I’m learning into my classroom practice every day.”
Earning a CDA will also open a new road in her career, Tierra explains. “Since starting my CDA, I’ve been working as a provisional lead teacher. Once I finish, I will officially be the lead teacher in my classroom.” So, Tierra is going places with her CDA, and she also owes thanks to the center’s directors for encouraging her to earn the CDA and helping her rise in the ECE field. “They pushed me to be a better teacher,” she says, “and a better role model for new staff who are coming to work at Growing Room, where I’m part of a formal mentoring program.”
Tierra mentors new teachers by building bonds with them and helping the teachers find out what works for them in the classroom. “After a teacher has worked at Growing Room for two weeks,” she says, “we have a sit-down meeting to see how they’re doing. If they need extra help after a month, we’ll meet for a dinner where we discuss the challenges they face. And we’ll keep meeting up for six months so beginning teachers feel they have support,” Tierra explains. She keeps the conversation going as she urges new teachers not to give up, another piece of advice you’ll see in Tierra’s favorite book. “When things start to happen,” as Dr. Seuss said, “don’t worry, don’t stew. Just go right along, you’ll start happening, too.”
It’s a persistent approach that has guided Tierra as she deals with young children in the post-pandemic classroom. “In recent years, I’ve had kids who were born when Mom and Dad could stay home and do everything for them,” Tierra says. “I’ve had to teach four-year-olds basic things I’ve never had to teach before like how to change their clothes and push their chair up to a table.” So, Tierra is taking steps to help them grow and become more independent. “What has worked for me,” she says, “is giving the children routines for hanging up their coats, washing their hands and doing jobs like passing out plates and cups for lunch.”
Sharing classroom chores helps with their peer interaction, Tierra explains. That, in turn, helps with the speech delays that Tierra has been seeing more of post-pandemic. “I think that the lack of peer interaction slowed down the children’s speech development,” she says. “So, we’re constantly talking in class. We put the children in small groups to chat. We talk in a big group while we’re playing outside. We’re constantly working to build the children’s language skills.”
All the talking and doing small tasks have helped the children make progress, Tierra explains. Reading to them also helps, a classroom activity in which Tierra has drawn on her background in theater. “I know how to use my voice and facial expressions to keep them engaged and get across basic messages that will help them advance,” she says. And one of the key lessons she wants to pass on again comes from the good Dr. Seuss: “You’re off to Great Places! Today is your Day! Your mountain is waiting! So…get on your way!”
These words are among the things that children remember from Tierra’s class, as she’s glad to see. “The most rewarding part of my job,” she says, “is when former students, who’ve gone on to elementary school, drop in to visit me at Growing Room and talk about the things they learned from me. The children tell me that they remember how I read this book or taught them that word and how it’s helping them now.” And the parents also thank her for the impact she’s made on their children. “Families tell me that I’ve helped their children be good people who assist their classmates,” as Tierra explains. In addition, her students speak better, are more self-reliant and stand up for themselves, as she’s learned from the grateful notes she sometimes receives. Whatever places they decide to go in life, Tierra’s students are ready to face any mountains that may wait.
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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.
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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.
Janice Bigelow
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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.
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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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