Latest / ChildCare Conversations / 356: How Can Early Childhood Education and Performing Arts Build Confidence in Kids? With Vineeta Bhandari

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356: How Can Early Childhood Education and Performing Arts Build Confidence in Kids? With Vineeta Bhandari · ChildCare Conversations

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is brought to you by Center IQ.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever added a child to a classroom, adjusted staffing, or made a quick schedule change, and then spent the next two weeks fixing the ripple effects, you're not alone.
• 0:32
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• 0:35
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• 0:40
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• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's get into today's conversation.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: One we think you're really going to love.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to today's episode.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: We are so glad that you've joined us for uh childcare conversations.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: And today's conversation, we are going to continue to explore other opportunities for building businesses, for partnerships.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: And our guest today is Vanita Bandari, and she is going to share her story.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're gonna have a conversation about her business, and we are excited to get started.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, why don't you start by telling us how your passion came and how you got here, and we'll just go from there.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um where did my passion come from?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting question because to be totally transparent, my background, um, my educational background had nothing to do with early childhood education.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it came from my personal experience, which is uh 23 years back, my daughter, who was two and a half, three years old approximately, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And um that was a very traumatizing experience for myself and the family.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: I was working as a consultant with a company um called Murdoch and Associates.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, prior to that, I had worked with Sun Micro, LAM Research and the likes, doing a lot of financial and marketing type of uh work.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um I had to quit my job to take care of my daughter because uh this tool that she was going to deny to the care that she deserved, uh, which was, you know, she needed insulin shots on a routine basis and so on and so forth.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: So uh me and my husband decided that I'll stay home with her.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And um, a few months into that, I realized that it wasn't good for my child or my daughter to be just around me.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, mom and daughter are great time together and stuff, but uh, she needed more socialization and children of her own age, and I needed more stimulation because I'd worked since I was 17 years of age.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: So given all- by the way, you wanted to have a conversation with somebody who could actually conjugate verbs.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: You got it.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: You got it.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to clarify that you wanted to be able to have a real right on that.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, anyways, and that's when I said that what can I do that I can be with my daughter?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's when the thought came about opening a preschool.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: I reflected back on the preschool she went to, and there was long TV times and long outside play and such.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I want to provide an academic environment, not to force children into education at that early age, but the exposure is important.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think everything is important.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Outside play is important, pre play is important, but academics are equally important because these first five years are the most important years.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Research has been saying actually that the first five years of a child's life are more important than college years, because that's where the foundation is, right?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when the neurons are developing and such.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: So um I figured I want to open a preschool that would be uh focused on all aspects of a child's growth and development.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's when um I decided to come up with a curriculum.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And me personally, I had been given a lot of exposure to performing arts as I was growing up.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: I did lots of Shakespeare plays and such when I was in high school.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when my children were born, my son went to a school that was very good in academics as well as at performing arts exposure.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I had always concluded that performing arts definitely gives the confidence that a child needs, uh, that a grown adult needs.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: We all know, like 90%, 98%, I believe, have staged fright, right?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: So um, how do we overcome that?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And how does a child grow and uh, you know, carry on the life journey with feeling so strong and confident about themselves?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: That to me was very important, and I'd seen that happen to uh my son and others around me.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I said, I want to give performing ours.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm like, wow, how am I gonna put two to five-year-old on stage?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, it's worth a try.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um, believe it or not, the first school where we did the first show still bring tears to my eyes.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was such an amazing experience.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: These kids looking so beautiful in their costumes, and um, and we did just something simple.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't even do a Broadway production, which is what we do nowadays, but um it was parents were standing there, they're crying, teary-eyed, and all of those emotions were, you know, it was just an unbelievable experience.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I felt really good about that, and um eventually I got to a point where I integrated performing arts into our academics.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: But my whole thought was I don't want any TV in the preschool.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: I do want outside play that would be about 45 minutes, which is what licensing requires, two times a day.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so, anyways, it kind of uh stitched a program that became really high in demand.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And there were parents who wanted to enroll their kids, and we didn't have a spot open for them.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that's when we grew from one school to 11 schools across the Bay Area, and I had an amazing team of people who supported me through this process.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: So um we had the aides and then the teachers and then assistant directors, directors, and regional directors who were ensuring the quality of the program was at par.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't need the regional directors, but I wanted to make sure that, you know, they are visiting the schools on a routine basis to see that the program curriculum was deployed as prescribed.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: So exactly, because this is your this is your vision, this is your passion, right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Your goal was you had a goal and you had a vision and you wanted to make sure that your team was keeping with your vision.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it became my passion.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: So going back to your question, how how did this passion?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: The passion came from the fact that there wasn't a preschool that could serve my daughter the way I would want my daughter and the rest of the kids around us to be served.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I became very passionate.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um initially, it was not like something I was driven to do, it was a need.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that need became a dream, and that dream was to touch the lives of million children.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And how was that?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: And how did we do that?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's a big question, right?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: How do we get to I don't have octopus arms.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: I only have two, like everybody has.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And you're only one person.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, how do I grow?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: How do I manage to touch the lives of million children?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Which is when the whole franchising uh came about in 2016.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: So from 2003 to 2016, which is when we opened our first franchise location, um, that's when we became a franchiser with the help of my two wonderful partners, Aja Gihani and Sangeet Karmchandani, who really helped the company uh with my vision, with the goals we had.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we, you know, decided to grow the company with an operations team, an IT team, a marketing and sales team, um, to make sure that the franchise were getting a lot of support that they deserved.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: So um we've been on that journey since then.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, as you know, we have got uh 59 schools open at this point, and we signed the hundredth agreement very recently.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we are on this path and journey that we're super excited about and uh looking forward to doing more with uh young children.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, it's I mean, anybody who can sit here and say that after 10 years of being a franchise or you've gone from basically, you know, a few locations to now signing your hundredth, I mean, that in itself is a story to be told.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so I have a question for you.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Was there a time in the last 10 years where you felt like you found yourself almost apologizing for wanting to grow your business?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: And if so, how did you how did you get past that?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: What what was your secret?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um I honestly have not felt that I need to apologize for the growth, but there has been um questions that have been brought up to me.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if you're gonna grow to this extent, how are you gonna continue to provide the support?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: And my answer always has been that before that need even comes, my goal is to strategically think ahead of time.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're growing, there is competition that's growing with you, right?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: How do you deal with that?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh my one of my bigger, you know, goals in the company for the company is to keep coming up with new initiatives, new strategic initiatives that would put us ahead when we look at the competition around us to give us a competitive edge.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, along with ensuring that our franchisees get this kind of support that they deserve, the kind of um guidance and training that they deserve, that question has never been a problem.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how are you going to support growth?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And because we proactively think about a lot of those issues that may happen where franchisees may end up feeling like, oh my God, they're growing so fast, I wouldn't get the right kind of support.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: But we we continue to grow with the departmental needs.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: We continue to grow with new departments.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: For example, we just started about a year and a half ago a sales department to support our franchisees with uh the day-to-day tours that they give and give them proper training on-site, um, hands-on, as well as uh to our Building Kids Academy, which has got all the different modules that showcase what we do and how we do.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: So they have everything as a backup too.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Having that online academy has really supported the franchisees to not feel that we're not there for them.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and we are a call away.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: We have an account manager for every department, whether it's marketing or sales or operations or IT, um, they get supported.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: So the growth has been supported by a lot of um resources that we have added over the years.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, one of the things that I find interesting, because you don't find this a lot in our industry, which are the women at the top.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to kind of poke at that a little.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, how do you inspire or continue to inspire females in your organization to take those leadership roles?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: Or when working with franchise franchisees or potential franchisees and helping them feel confident that they can do this themselves?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm uh I've never been asked that question before, but I am glad that you have asked uh because it's definitely a challenge.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, with that being said, I feel like women have this emotional IQ that helps them support, that helps them guide, that helps them understand what the franchisees are going through.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I have not faced any such challenge.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very blessed, very fortunate.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the franchisees or the team that I have been supporting has not felt that, oh, she's a woman.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because I guess I founded the company, so I didn't come across many of those challenges.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I have uh Sangeet and Sanjay are engineers and they worked for the corporate world for many years.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: I myself have had that kind of experience.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: So didn't face that sort of a challenge.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I think having that emotional IQ and that understanding, especially for this business, this is a female dominant business.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of franchisees, actually more men franchisees than women.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: But that's what I'm noticing.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's why I was curious because, you know, how can we help more of the women continue to be franchisees?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like how can we help them inspire inspire them to go, I can do this, and she's gonna help me do it.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the biggest challenge there is um women in this industry, unfortunately, um people or women that have been part of uh early childhood, which is a teaching and being a director, um, is difficult for them because it does require some sort of financial, you know, bandwidth.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if their husbands are supporting, then it's a different thing, or they have family wealth.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because as a career, uh as a teacher, you don't make that sort of, we all know that, you know, this industry or even high school teachers, they're not making that sort of money.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas men uh or women even who have been in IT or doctors, because we have doctors, we have attorneys, we have architects in the system.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And given that sort of um background of people who have accumulated uh wealth or have had the funds to be able to do so, um, are more um interested because they have the means for it.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: But the teaching, uh we did have a lot of directors that were part of Building Kiss that um bought our franchisee.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um so then they have become franchisees.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are other women who have come from other walks of life who have been, you know, marketeers or engineers.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we have those type of women uh who have come into our space.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's just unfortunate that the teachers and the directors currently in the system have not been able to, and we try to encourage them.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: We have got a few that decided to do that, but um that that's the challenge that we face.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that's interesting in our industry, and it's not just our industry, it's a lot of the carrying industries, that the leadership ends up looking more male, but all of the day-to-day operations looks more female.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so I always get inspired when I get an opportunity to have a conversation with a female who absolutely has taken that authority component without any apologizing, without saying, you know, without feeling like they needed to apologize or explain how they got there.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: So um hopefully you realize that you really are an inspiration to an awful lot of probably your female franchisees.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: And hopefully folks who are listening to this episode will be intrigued and go, Well, I thought about a franchise, but I hadn't thought about looking at the leadership role.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: So that to me was actually one of the things that really got me excited about having this conversation was having more conversations with the female franchisors, the ones who are setting the bar, who are leading our industry, and showing that the other women in the industry or other parallel industries, or like you said, coming into our industry from another industry and realize that they can actually own, operate, um, you know, not just one location, but maybe multiple locations.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I see men doing this more for investment purposes, but women doing this more for passion.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the part that, you know, I I get very encouraged by both aspects.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like people look at it as an investment as well as something that they want to do that is going to make a difference in the society, that's going to impact the children and the future of our country.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: So to me, that is very empowering and very encouraging to continue going on this journey and uh, you know, seeing the success of these young children.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: I do get calls every now and then from parents whose kids went to our school and you know, they are now adults, and some of them gone and performing arts, and it's just so um, you know, fulfilling, heartwarming.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love that.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm sure with all of the the the children you've encountered, the the the women who you've inspired to become franchise or just leaders within your organization, you probably have a story that just kind of resonates.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: Do you want to share that story?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Of some of the other women who have joined?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure that I'm sure there's at least one.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: There probably are several.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't have to give their names.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: You could just share the story of somebody who you're like, yeah, I'm glad I was here for that person.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the one, the most favorite story or that warms up my heart every time I think about it is of um twins that used to work at one of our locations, and they were about 18 years old at the time when I brought them on.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they started as aides.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: They did not have any educational background at the time, could not speak English, and um but they were very hardworking, super hardworking, uh, great individuals, great gals, and um, they grew from being an aide to um a teacher.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: They learned English, and then I um advised them to go get a college degree.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: They both went to college, they got their bachelor's in early childhood education.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they became directors, and they continued to grow with the company, and it was amazing to see them flourish and be so excited about what they were doing.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: They really loved helping children.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: I could see that.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Academics was very important to them.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, playing was very important to them, making sure the child was catered to the way they wanted to grow, the way they wanted to learn.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, customized approach was very important.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Anyways, they did really well.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: And at some point when I was growing uh from 1 to 11 schools, I actually requested them to be my partners.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: And um, they were super excited and they became my partners.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: And when we became a franchise or I actually um asked them if they wanted to be a franchisee rather than being a partner, and of course they were super excited, they were getting almost full ownership.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um they went from that one franchise location to seven locations.
• 19:59
  unknown: Wow.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they um they are making great money, great money to something they could never imagine coming from from Guatemala and doing so well.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm extremely proud of them and so, so happy for them.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: So happy for them.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: That is like the best story.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for wrapping us up with that story, because that is just that is a perfect example of what women can do by empowering other women.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's exactly what we want more women in our industry to do.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: And what a perfect case study uh for you as a woman leading other women, opening up your heart, your vision.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, you know, nobody, nobody likes to have a child who didn't fit someplace.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: And it sounds like your program is just a beautiful program for for people who are considering having um their own business uh and want to do it without having to figure out their own bumps, right?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's the beautiful thing about having a franchise is somebody else got to figure out all the bumps and bruises.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: And you get to give them the here's the cleaner version of what I would do now versus maybe what I did when I started.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: So um, thank you so much for sharing your story.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: If you've listened to today's episode and you want to know more, um, all of the contact information to find out about the franchises, to read about articles uh that Vanita has written and has been a part of are all in our show notes.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we'd love for you to connect with her team and find out more on how this can be something that might help you be that next case study of going from a teacher to franchisee.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, maybe you've got seven locations in your future.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much, and we can't wait to talk to you in a few days.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning in.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education.
• 22:11
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• 22:17
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• 22:24
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• 22:30
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• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time on Childcare Conversations.