00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 230. I got to hang out with NICU nurse Zach Drolette and dive into what it can look like to experience a NICU stay and ways to advocate for yourself, for your family, for your tiny human or tiny humans and how to also practice self care in this often exhausting roller coaster of a season. We have a special little intro here for you as well where you get to hear from NICU parents who have walked that journey and can share their words of wisdom. I'm so excited to be able to share this episode with y'all, especially with these special guests. Before we dive in. I wanted to let...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 229. We had an entire team meeting about Marie Beecham, who I get to interview here. We dove into her work and we were like, gosh, I personally love how her brain works. I love how she presents information. And one of the things that I think is so key here, is that she's really skilled at having nuanced conversations about things that we often put in categories. We're really, really good at saying something is right or wrong, it's good or bad. And Marie is so skilled at saying, let's talk about that. What's coming up for you? Finding the nuance and having conversations. And, y'all, I think the key to...

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00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 228. I got to hang out with Susan Verde. She is a children's book author with a new book out for adults. You might know her from the I Am series. That's what I know her from, we have her books. I love them and it was so exciting to get to chat with her about what does this look like for adults? And her book Say One Kind Thing is really about nurturing that inner voice within ourselves that I don't know about you. But like, gosh, I'm so good at letting that part of me show up. That's like Alyssa, you're not enough, you're not doing enough X Y and Z and...

 00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, this is episode 227. In this episode I get to hang out with the CEO of Wonderschool, Chris Bennett. Chris and I got to dive into how Wonderschool is changing childcare systems. Ya'll know I am not here for a Band-aid on a bullet hole. I love really taking a million steps back and looking at the whole picture, getting that bird's eye view and saying, how do we create systems change? Change that supports Early Childhood educators, that's best for families and for kids. What does this really look like and how do we afford to do it? What does it look like logistically? Wonderschool is a huge piece of that...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 226. I got to hang out with Kobe Campbell to dive into her first book. Why Am I Like This? How to Break Cycles, Heal from Trauma and Restore Your Faith. Y'all, this conversation, it was so fun to have and to dive into, really at the crux of doing this work, of raising emotionally intelligent humans is diving into our own work of who am I? What am I coming to the table with? What am I bringing from my childhood, and how do I build tools and awareness so that I can regulate and respond with intention? So many of us did not grow up with these tools for emotional intelligence, and we're trying to...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 225. I got to hang out with one of my dear friends, Lori Goodrich. She is an occupational therapist and truly transformed how I live my life, how I show up as a parent, how I show up as a teacher. She was so influential in my journey and continues to be. We're going to dive in to the sensory systems, what they are. We hear that word sensory a lot, but what does that even mean? And spoiler alert, it's how we function in the world. It is the foundation for how we show up, for how we feel, for how we process emotions, for everything. This episode is pure gold, and I'm so excited to share it with...

The statistics are staggering. On average, preschool teachers are paid half of what kindergarten teachers are paid. The wage gap is more extreme for educators of color, who make up 40% of the ECE workforce. 20% of the early childhood workforce turns over every year.

As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, how did we get to a place where early childhood educators are so undersupported that they’re leaving the field entirely?

 
Our childcare system began in space where it was primarily stay at home parents. During WWII, more women began to enter the workforce and the childcare landscape began to shift. People came together to help each other, and a lot of family...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 224. The cost of childcare we all know is outrageous, and our Early Childhood educators are making next to nothing. I got to hang out with Aly Richards, the CEO of Let's Grow Kids here in Vermont, who has dedicated her work at LGK to bringing high quality, affordable childcare to every Vermont family. In this episode, we got to dive into the cost of care and what to do about it on a state level. What does this investment look like? How much is it? Where do the funds come from? How do we truly change this system so that every single child has access to high quality care, so that teachers are paid to...

00:00:01    Alyssa

 You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 223. For this episode I got to hang out with my dear friend Ellen Drolette to chat about building resilience for Early Childhood educators. Ellen is the author of "Overcoming teacher burnout" where she goes into strategies for supporting Early Childhood educators in this field that we know is so ripe with burnout. Ya'll we need to support our Early Childhood educators and Ellen and I got to chat about how to do just that. We know that now more than ever there is a teacher shortage and teachers leaving the field in droves. Because we're exhausted, we're overworked and underpaid and alone and...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 222. I got to hang out with Dr. Gabor Mate and dive into his new book, "The Myth of Normal". It is such an incredible book. We had a rad discussion about how of our coping mechanisms in childhood show up in parenthood. What makes this culture toxic and what is trauma? Why is it widespread and yet so misunderstood? And what can we do to help support our tiny humans? I am so grateful to have been able to have this conversation with him. I've loved his work for so long. You all run, don't walk to go get "The Myth of Normal." It's a New York Times bestseller. And deservedly so. All right, folks, let's...