April 19, 2024 • 31 mins
Our guest always knew she wanted to be an educator but after teaching for 12 years and while working on a new degree, working mom, LynnAnn Zazzali, was faced with the painful choice of finding childcare for her two (both under three) children. While exploring her options she became an unwitting entrepreneur and now owns a dozen The Learning Experiences centers. It's a story of determination, strength, and passion all fortified by a mother's love. For all our parents out there, this one's for you.
Connect with LynnAnn:
Like the show? Be sure to Like, Subscribe, Review and Share! Interested in being a part of WEE? Reach out to our group liaison, Kelli@WomenExcellingEverywhere.com
Connect with LynnAnn:
- Lzazzali@TLEChildCare.com
- TheLearningExperience.com
Like the show? Be sure to Like, Subscribe, Review and Share! Interested in being a part of WEE? Reach out to our group liaison, Kelli@WomenExcellingEverywhere.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Welcome everyone to this edition of WomenExcelling Everywhere. I am your host,
Julie Anderson, and I am sohappy to be here again with another wonderful,
wonderful interview with a dynamic woman who'sexcelling in her field and here to
share her story. We are herewith Lenane Zazzali today. Lenane, thank
(00:30):
you for being on the Women ExcellingEverywhere pod. Thank you absolutely my pleasure.
This is childhood education or child educationis a passion of mine, having
homeschooled my kids for many years andjust knowing the brain and the learning brain
and the developing brain, and howimportant education and building a good strong self
(00:52):
esteem is. So I'm really lookingforward to our conversation today. I'm going
to go ahead and read Lenanne's professionbio my glasses on, so I don't
murder it too bad. Len Aneso Azzali was a public school teacher in
New Jersey for twelve years, ontrack to becoming the principal. Equipped with
two master's degrees and a passion foreducation, she has seen a lot as
(01:15):
a teacher, from high schools andrough communities to quieter elementary schools. However,
while looking for childcare for her thenpreschooled age son and infant daughter.
She was inspired to change careers andown her own education academies as a franchise
called with the Learning Experience. Withthe loan from her family and limited business
(01:38):
experience, lyn Anne invested in herfirst center in New Jersey, which opened
in two thousand and eight. Shenow owns nine locations, as well as
three additional underdeveloped, a three additionalin the underdeveloped throughout the New York Tri
States area. Over the years,lyn Anne has earned multiple franchise Leadership awards
(02:00):
from The Learning Experience, including earningthe Chairman's Award and two separate on two
separate occasions, and has loved beinga part of the brand committed to continuous
improvement and progression, not only throughproprietary curriculum development which I'm really interested to
hear about and state of the arttechnology, but also through a brand that
deeply cares about the success of thefranchise. So welcome again, Lenancezali to
(02:25):
the podcast. Wo it's so it'sit's such an interesting thing to go from
being a teacher to being a businessowner. Like that's a big that's a
big gap, but let's go kindof before that into education period, like
what made you want to be ateacher and work with kids in the school
(02:49):
system. So I can actually goall the way back to my childhood.
Ever since I was little. Youknow, you pretend, and I would
always pretend to be a teacher.So back in I day, we had
chalkboards instead of dry erase boards,and I was constantly role playing being a
teacher. So I had my wholeclass in my basement pretend. I had
(03:09):
my dolls set up, and itwas just something that you know, I
just always loved. I think teachersare very influential and in my life,
you know, even as a child, you know, those were the people
that I looked up to, andI just felt like there's no better profession.
And to me, you know,I wanted a field where it was
(03:30):
something that I looked forward to andit didn't feel take a job, but
it felt like, you know,a lifestyle. And that's you know,
really what I felt about teaching,and that's why I went into it.
I loved that. I love itthat that it was. You know,
oftentimes what we dream about being asa child is far from what we become
as an adult. But you actuallythat worked for you. That's that's pretty
(03:53):
cool. Now as I kind ofled to make making the move from I
want to I say nine to five, but being a school teacher is not
a nine to five. It's muchdifference. But from a career where you
have someone else basically structuring your scheduleand your days off and all that,
(04:13):
all of that right, going fromthat position into an actual business owner where
you now have to wear the CEOcap and you have to run everything,
that's a pretty big different, prettybig change. So what made you decide
that you wanted to become a businessowner, especially of something like a child.
(04:35):
I mean, we kind of heardwith your kids, but you know
you're you have multiple childcare centers.What made you want to make that transition?
Well, I think initially I wasgoing from my second master's in educational
leadership, so naturally that would bringme to a position as a supervisor a
(04:55):
principal. And I had two youngchildren, so at the time, I
had a nanny and I started lookingfor childcare for my children, both of
them. My daughter was, youknow, a baby, and my son
was just before turning three, sothey're twenty one months apart. So I
started doing my search, I wouldvisit, go on tours, and every
(05:18):
time I went on a tour,I had tears in my eyes and I
just thought to myself, like,how do I leave my children with strangers?
How do I leave them with peoplethat I don't know? And that
was it was very scary for meand daunting. So with conversations with my
father, you know, I wastelling him about it. You know,
this is going to be so hard. How do I leave them? And
(05:40):
he had said to me, whydon't you just open up your own childcare
center? And at first I thought, Okay, I'm a teacher. There's
no way that I can own myown business. How would I go about
doing it? And at first Ithought this is just a crazy suggestion.
But then I went back. Iwas reading Specialist at the time in Paquonic
nu Jery, and I started doingresearch. I started, you know,
(06:03):
looking at commercial property, you know, what do I need to open up
my own childcare center? And thenin the search, I started looking up
brand names. So I looked upmultiple franchises, and I wasn't really sure
if I should go the franchise routeor if I should go, you know,
the independent route. So I justcontinued to search and search and search,
(06:26):
and I did have meetings with acouple other franchise companies. But then
I came across the Learning Experience andat the time, they were much smaller
and they were based out of NewJersey. Now they're in Florida, and
it was a really small office.But I met the owners, you know,
of the Learning Experience, and Ijust fell in love with the people
(06:46):
in the office. And you know, being like a very empathetic person and
a pupil person, I'm very focusedon relationships. It just felt right and
I just had conversations with my family. I had conversations with them, and
I thought this, this feels good, This feels good, and I think
I can do it. So wedecided to go for it in two thousand
(07:10):
and six, and then two thousandand eight is when I was matched to
my first school in Waldwick, NewJersey. And I wouldn't be honest if
I wasn't telling you when I didsign the papers for Waldwick, New Jersey,
that I thought, I don't knowthat I could do this. I
loved teaching like I loved my job, and it was something I was passionate
(07:30):
about and I could never imagine notbeing a teacher. And I just had
a lot of encouragement from the wholeteam at tia Lee headquarters and they were
very supportive even when I tried tochange my mind. They brought me into
a room, sat me down andsaid, you can do this. I
know you can do this, andyou will be very successful. And I
(07:51):
was only signing on for one schoolat the time, and it was just
you know, going into a brandnew school that's empty, no children,
I have one child, open,a thousand square foot facility, and just
the thought, how now what doI do? You know, I was
(08:11):
a teacher, so I felt,you know, my first couple of days,
I said to my dad, Isaid, you know, I'm not
teaching right now, and he's like, no, you're not. He's like,
you're now in sales and marketing.And I thought, wow, right,
so now I'm not teaching anymore.But you know, I did realize
over time, and it took mea lot of time to realize this.
I'm now teaching also teachers, sonow I'm a teacher of teachers, and
(08:35):
you know, it was just Ifelt, like, to answer your question,
how did I go from teacher toyou know, business owner. It
was from being a mom, itwas from being on you know, and
my daughter ended up coming to workwith me, so she was one of
my first preschoolers. Yeah, sotell us about because you you were obviously
(08:56):
passionate about education for children as ateacher, and that was something and you
wanted to get into those management positionswhere you could make a difference. I'm
sure that was part of the drivefor you. What was it about this
particular franchise, like the Learning Exchange? What was it that our experience,
sorry not exchange the learning experience?What was it about that particular franchise that
(09:22):
made you think I can make adifference here. I cannot just build a
business where I can also have mykids, but I can also build a
business that's going to benefit other children. Like why did you choose that particular
franchise? So back in two thousandand six, I chose the Learning Experience
(09:43):
because they had a very unique readingprogram. And that's my background, so
I'm a reading specialist. I'm verymuch into literacy. I think it's very
important, you know, at theearly age where teaching children how to read,
and then as they get older,once they learned how to read,
(10:03):
their reading to learn, and thatwas something that was so important to me,
and when I did visit, evenjust as a mom, it was
one of the components that stood outto me. It's actually purposeful, but
it's also fun. It's engaging childrenlearn through play, and it made sense
for me. So that's why Ichose the Learning Experience. But then also
(10:28):
as the years went on, youknow, that company, the learning experience
became so much more than just choosingit because of their reading program. They
are very progressive and they also listento their people, so any suggestions that
franchises have, they want to hearit because our ideas make the whole company
(10:48):
better. And now the learning experience, it's not just about reading, it's
not just about math, it's notjust about science. But we also have
our own proprietary philanthropy preprogram, whichis also something very close to my heart.
That we teach children deliberately to careabout other people at a young age,
(11:09):
you know, and it doesn't matterhow big or small you are,
it's the size of your heart thatmatters. And that's something that like with
time, I really pride myself onthe Learning Experience and being part of this
because it's so much more than justteaching children academic it's also their emotional and
social growth, which I see inthe world to be like the key to
(11:31):
such huge. Yeah, it ishuge. It's not just about like how
smart you are, like how yourIQ is high. It's about your EQ,
right, It's how you can relateto other people, care about other
people. It's everything is about buildingrelationships now, especially more so than ever
since COVID. Yeah, yeah,since COVID and since the the the bigger
(11:54):
part that technology and social media playsa role in our lives. You know,
you combine those it's and are theyoung ones that are in this preschool
age or in elementary school their relationshipwith human beings is so important because there's
so much technology being thrown at themconstantly. Yeah, so this is it's
(12:20):
interesting because you chose not just achildcare center, but an actual early childhood
education to build your business around,which I think is portant. And I
love what you were saying about readingbecause as as the brain lady, right,
one of the things that I emphasizedto when I am speaking to that
(12:41):
group, to a group of parents, is that engaging with them in conversation
and reading to them in those veryvery young years is so incredibly important because
the brain goes through this pruning,you know, the thing before elementary school,
and things that aren't getting used literallyget pruned out areas of the brain,
neurons that are inactive, right,they get that those areas get pruned
(13:05):
out. So you want to keepthose reading language, all of that just
like on fire in the brain sothat the brain will hold on to all
of those connections. I love,yeah, I love that you just shared
that because something that we're really focusedon is the intentional classroom and it's really
like you know, observing children,whether it's with literacy or whether it's just
(13:28):
them playing with blocks, you know, talking to other children, but to
be able to ask them you know, open end to questions, which I
think is exactly what you're saying,is you know, getting those creative juices
going and you know, using thepart of the brain that's going to help
them to grow and develop rather thankeeping it stagnant, you know, not
putting children into a box where okay, today we're going to make a robot
(13:52):
and the robot's going to look likethis, but letting them be able to
come up with their own ideas.Yeah, that's beautiful too, because that
helps them to foster that, Iwould think as well to foster their self
confidence, right, because you're nottelling them, look, there's a right
way and there's a wrong way,and if you don't do it this way,
then you are wrong. Right.But when you give them the opportunity
(14:16):
to expand and explore their own ideas, now it's shifting and you're giving them
that confidence that can carry them forthe rest of their life. For sure,
Now I wish I had it becauseit's as you're talking, you're making
me think about so many different thingsover here. But it's all about taking
risks. So right, when youallow them to be creative and you're not
(14:39):
saying this is the right way,there's really no right way and there's really
no wrong way, right, So, but you're letting them take a risk,
which does create confidence. But whenyou say there's a wrong way,
that child's just trying. They're justtrying to do it this way right because
they don't want it to be wrong. And I think like in life,
as you said to care, areyou forward, life is all about risk
(15:01):
taking. Yeah, yeah, Anda lot of times that get stunted so
much in those early years, andwhen you stunt it in those early years,
you don't even realize that when you'rean adult, right, you don't
even make take those traces back tosay, oh, wait a minute.
You know it's because I talk aboutwhen I'm talking about mindset and getting past
(15:24):
block, you know, the insignificantthings said to you by significant people in
your life. And I include teachersin that significant people because teachers have such
a huge influence on the developing mindand the developing brain. And if you
know, if you're constantly, asyou said, trying to fit them into
this one block, this one box, this one set of doing things.
(15:46):
You know, we don't want littlemindless minions. We actually want people to
come up with solutions to the problems. And in order to do that,
they have to be able to utilizetheir own gifts in their brain. That's
awesome. That's awesome. And youdo a lot of this kind of play
and exploration in in your centers.Yes, yes, a lot of choices.
(16:08):
Our children have. They're exposed tolots of different you know, avenues
in the classroom, lots of manipulatives, multisensory, but they are definitely like
encouraged to uh take a risks,are encouraged to, you know, to
try something new. And we also, like you had mentioned before, it's
(16:29):
just having those conversations with them.Conversations are key and it's really interesting what
they come up with. It's alsoa lot of fun too. Yeah,
yeah, I always I've always toldpeople it's so funny. I'm such a
unique one. You know. There'scertain stages of development that I just love,
and one of them is that thatwhen people say, you know,
(16:52):
they reach the terrible twos, like, I love that. I love those
ages when they're starting to express themselvesand starting to explore because you can sit
back and you can watch their littlebrains just growing and expanding, and those
are just such beautiful moments to beable to see kids express themselves and be
comfortable expert doing so, you know, because that's kind of before they get
(17:17):
shut down and then then we moldthem. And of course obviously we want
them to have manners and you know, get along with the other kids and
everything. So I'm not saying justlet them run willy nilly, but I'm
saying that's a beautiful it's a beautifuldevelopment time. That in the teen years,
you know, such a beautiful developmenttime for the brains. So how
old are your kids now? Somy son is twenty, I'll be twenty
(17:42):
one in March, and my daughteris nineteen. So wow, both products
of the learning experience. I loveit. Now they when you ask them,
like, do they appreciate? Dothey or do they recognize? Not
necessarily appreciate, because I'm sure theyappreciate you as mom and the things that
you did for them, I'm sure, But do they recognize the benefits of
(18:06):
the activities and the things that theylearn in the in the learning exchange when
they were little? They do.My daughter actually attended mine and so her
teacher, Miss Carrie, still worksfor me, believe it or not.
So Daniella now is nineteen. SoCarrie has been with me for a very
long time, but she does.And actually we were going through I keep
(18:30):
I have one box only like oftheir school any like school memorabilia. I
said that. And when the boxis full, like I always like replace
it with something else because I justwant them to have that when they get
older. And we were going throughit, and she came across something she
did in her preschool class and sheremembered everything about it, and it was
it was really really cute and itwas pretty We both like laughed about it
(18:52):
her responses. And then my son, one hundred percent, he still he
did not go to my location becausehe's a little older, but he did
go to the one in Wayne,which was a corporately owned center, and
he still to this day remembers hispreal teacher, Ms. Kathy and he
still talks about her. So,yes, they still remember and they do
(19:14):
appreciate it. That's beautiful and that'sgreat for any of the listeners who have
young children to understand how important thatimpact is, that positive influence at such
a young age, because it's thosememories that are formed and they can be
negative, right, but we wantthem to be positive. So being in
an environment that foster's learning and foster'screativity is a beautiful, beautiful place to
(19:40):
be. So now you talk aboutthis particular company, right, the corporate
company, how have they supported youalong the way, Because obviously, if
it's been nineteen years, eighteen years, however long it's been eighteen years,
however long it's been since I signedsome ten years. But my first location
has been open for fifteen and ahalf years and half years, so that's
(20:06):
a long that's a long time andyou have multiple franchises now, So how
have they supported you as a companyand what did that mean to you as
a woman developing her I know,for lack of a better word, empire,
but her, you know, youryour businesses over the years, So
(20:29):
they are very, very supportive.But I used the word before progressive,
and that's what always sticks with mebecause now, more so than ever,
we're so focused on a positive workculture for all of our team members and
I feel like they took the leadwith it, but they also they want
to hear from us, and they'remulti unit owners such as myself. They
(20:52):
do plan you know, learning eventsfor us where we go to you know,
te ly HQ, and we do. We learn together, we grow
together. But everything I learn fromthat I take back and implement with my
team. So they're very they're vestedin our success. And the way I
always describe it is it's more likea business partner. It's a partnership.
(21:15):
So like my success is their success, and the more successful tia Le becomes
as a whole, the more successfulI can be. And I feel like
we grow along side of each other. And I think even you know,
things like our philanthropy program that Imentioned before, that's I continually talk about
it because it's something that's important tome. I do think more than ever
(21:38):
it's just so important to care aboutpeople. But we have this partnership with
Make a Wish So like as awhole, like we all rally together and
we're teaching our little learners to youknow, to raise money to help a
child who has a life threatening illness, to be able to give them hope,
(22:00):
right to get through their treatment,and to see that that maybe you
know, things will be okay andthat there is a light at the end
of the tunnel. And that's somethingthat we like purposely, you know,
teach our children, and that's somethingthat came from from the team at hq
SO. And then what a goodidea because it like brings us all all
together and we're all like, okay, we want to raise this many wishes
(22:23):
or this many wishes and on acute little level with our little guys,
I get the learning experience. Theydo things like big sales. They they'll
do like a talent show for theirfamilies, but they really understand like they
understand, like I'm doing this becauseI want to help another child's so so
(22:44):
in terms of support, I mean, it's amazing, but it's like it's
more about like just growing a business. It's about like creating this amazing life
not only for like franchisees, butalso for our children and our families and
you know everybody that works in ourcenters, you know, our entire team.
So that's cool. That's really cool. Now, how has being because
(23:08):
it kind of coming back to helpingwomen excel and the whole purpose of making
the brand switch that we did intwenty twenty four to women excelling everywhere from
just focusing on women entrepreneurs. Wantingwomen to excel or have the feeling and
(23:29):
the confidence to be able to excelin every aspect of their life is very
important and that's a big part ofour mission. Now as a mom,
how did being a mom? AndI'm asking you this question kind of partially
because other moms out there that mightbe listening thinking, oh, I want
to become a business owner or Iwant to develop more of my entrepreneurial journey,
(23:52):
Like, how has being a momplayed a role in your success?
What things can they learn as amom that can help them have success in
their in their business. I guesslike for so two parts. One is
I feel like I'm successful because likemy children are my catalysts, you know,
and you know, I want toteach my daughter, right and my
(24:15):
son what work ethic is about,and that if you want to own your
own business, and you have theentrepreneur entrepreneurial mindset, you know, it's
really about working on your business,not in your business. So if you
are a mom, let's say youhave young children, it's really you're you're
the visionary, right, so,and then you have the integrators right in
(24:37):
your business. And then you haveyou know, our team members who are
with our kids every day and they'reat our centers. So I think,
you know, being a mom,it's it really just makes me stronger because
you know, I want to dothis for them. But it's also like
I feel like I'm their role model, right and my son can my son
(24:59):
so very often, you know,because he sees what I do and he
sees like I came from one.I was a teacher, had one school
and never thought I would own two, three, four or five, and
I just kept going. And nowyou know, I will have twelve very
shortly, and who knows, maybeI'll even have more. But I think
you can have that balance. Butagain, it's not working in your business.
(25:22):
You have to work on your business. You have to create that team,
You have to instill those values.Your mission statement has to be lived
out every day and your core valueshave to be like part of everybody and
everything that's beautiful, that's that's beautiful, and it is very important because you
have to build a team if youwant to grow and expand there's only so
(25:42):
much you can do is on yourown, and that's building a team is
crucial to the growth of your businessas as an entrepreneur. So as we
as we get ready to wrap upthe interview here, this has been a
delight What piece what's the best pieceof advice that you would give to women
(26:03):
who are listening to help them excel, to help them excel in their entrepreneurial
journey, or even just as aas a mom and as an individual.
So I would say too, well, first of all, continuously learn,
learn, learn, learn, learn. Something that we have like on my
team, we have something called LeadershipLounge and we meet every Tuesday and Thursday.
(26:25):
I happen to just it just happenedthis way. And maybe I have
two hundred and seventy employees and maybefour of them are men, and not
by choice, it just organically happenedthat way. But we do. We
read together, and we read alot of leadership books together. So I
would say, surround yourself with peoplethat just want to soak up knowledge and
(26:47):
you know, they want to continuouslygrow and become a better person, because
I feel like that's what I do. Like, I want to be a
better leader for everybody who works withme, you know, I want to
lead them. I want to bealongside of them. I want to be
their best coach ever and also theirbiggest cheerleader. So I think that would
be my advice. And then theother piece would be to think about what
(27:11):
is your end game, you know, because I didn't think about that in
the beginning. I thought I wouldjust have one school, that's it.
But now I look at it differently, and I'm setting up my organizational structure
not for the eight schools that arecurrently open and the nine that I've been
matched to and the three that areon the way. I'm setting myself up
for twelve. So my team isreally for the twelve schools, not for
(27:34):
the smaller number that I currently have, because I want to be able to
build into it, and I wantto keep everybody on my team. I
actually love the people that I workwith. I love them and I want
them to continuously grow and I wantto see them achieve more. That's beautiful.
I love that. I always Ialways tell people kind of something similar.
(27:56):
You know, you have to ifyou've got a five year plan,
start at the end of the fiveyears, and where do you want to
be there, you know, andyou have to build a foundation for that,
or else you're not going to beable to sustain what it is that
you're growing for. So I lovethat, and that can be applied really
in everything, right, if youwant to become a parent, or you
want to be great in a relationship. February's kind of relationship month, you
(28:17):
know, so all of those things. It's it's very good to kind of
begin with the end in mind,so to speak, what you want to
accomplish. Well, Lenan, ithas been wonderful having you on as a
guest. For those of you whoare listening, we have lots lots of
lots of ways that you can geta hold of Lenan. Now you have
you mentioned that you have nine oreight or nine and you have are expanding
(28:41):
to twelve and they're kind of allover New Jersey. And did I see
a couple of New York Westchester County, New York, and I have one
in Connecticut, Stanford, Connecticut.Yeah, So best way to get a
hold of you would be to We'vegot your email, just don't have it
in front of me. Tell ever, I would LinkedIn, LinkedIn probably the
(29:03):
best way. Yes, Otherwise allthe social media pages are each school individually,
but lad me so and to helpanyone, I love that. I
love that people that might be curiousabout the learning exchange or experience, why
do I keep calling it exchange experience? And or owning your own franchise or
(29:26):
just following and connecting with Lenane isto you know, drip from her or
take from her wisdom that she dripsout is a great way to do that.
So, once again, Lenan,thank you very much for being a
guest on the Women Excelling Everywhere podcasttoday. Thank you so much, absolutely,
and for those of you who arelistening, be sure to check the
show page, give us a thumbsup and a share if you think this
(29:49):
is information that you know other peoplecould benefit from, inspirational stories and by
all means, please share that out. We would appreciate that. If you
have a topic that you would liketo here discussed on the Women Excelling Everywhere
podcast, we would love to havethat. Have you give us that information
as well, just send us anemail at info at Women Excelling Everywhere dot
(30:11):
com. You can also check outour website there. We have different membership
levels, different coaching levels. Ifyou would like more direction or more foundation
for your business, we are certainlythere to support you. Or if you
would like to see someone in particularinterviewed on the podcast, or you would
like to be a guest on thepodcast, then reach out again to info
at Women Excelling Everywhere dot com.We also have our private membership that we
(30:34):
have launched where we are just allabout growth, whether it's business growth,
personal growth, emotional growth. Thismonth, it's relationship growth, next month
it'll be self growth. So we'reall about supporting women to excel wherever you
are at, parent, business,owner, career, whatever it is,
we want to help you do that, all right, so with that we'll
(30:56):
close up the show. We wanteverybody, as I always do, roll
your shoulders back, to take anice deep breath, go out there and
simply enjoy every moment until next time. M m mmmmmmm
Welcome everyone to this edition of WomenExcelling Everywhere. I am your host,
Julie Anderson, and I am sohappy to be here again with another wonderful,
wonderful interview with a dynamic woman who'sexcelling in her field and here to
share her story. We are herewith Lenane Zazzali today. Lenane, thank
(00:30):
you for being on the Women ExcellingEverywhere pod. Thank you absolutely my pleasure.
This is childhood education or child educationis a passion of mine, having
homeschooled my kids for many years andjust knowing the brain and the learning brain
and the developing brain, and howimportant education and building a good strong self
(00:52):
esteem is. So I'm really lookingforward to our conversation today. I'm going
to go ahead and read Lenanne's professionbio my glasses on, so I don't
murder it too bad. Len Aneso Azzali was a public school teacher in
New Jersey for twelve years, ontrack to becoming the principal. Equipped with
two master's degrees and a passion foreducation, she has seen a lot as
(01:15):
a teacher, from high schools andrough communities to quieter elementary schools. However,
while looking for childcare for her thenpreschooled age son and infant daughter.
She was inspired to change careers andown her own education academies as a franchise
called with the Learning Experience. Withthe loan from her family and limited business
(01:38):
experience, lyn Anne invested in herfirst center in New Jersey, which opened
in two thousand and eight. Shenow owns nine locations, as well as
three additional underdeveloped, a three additionalin the underdeveloped throughout the New York Tri
States area. Over the years,lyn Anne has earned multiple franchise Leadership awards
(02:00):
from The Learning Experience, including earningthe Chairman's Award and two separate on two
separate occasions, and has loved beinga part of the brand committed to continuous
improvement and progression, not only throughproprietary curriculum development which I'm really interested to
hear about and state of the arttechnology, but also through a brand that
deeply cares about the success of thefranchise. So welcome again, Lenancezali to
(02:25):
the podcast. Wo it's so it'sit's such an interesting thing to go from
being a teacher to being a businessowner. Like that's a big that's a
big gap, but let's go kindof before that into education period, like
what made you want to be ateacher and work with kids in the school
(02:49):
system. So I can actually goall the way back to my childhood.
Ever since I was little. Youknow, you pretend, and I would
always pretend to be a teacher.So back in I day, we had
chalkboards instead of dry erase boards,and I was constantly role playing being a
teacher. So I had my wholeclass in my basement pretend. I had
(03:09):
my dolls set up, and itwas just something that you know, I
just always loved. I think teachersare very influential and in my life,
you know, even as a child, you know, those were the people
that I looked up to, andI just felt like there's no better profession.
And to me, you know,I wanted a field where it was
(03:30):
something that I looked forward to andit didn't feel take a job, but
it felt like, you know,a lifestyle. And that's you know,
really what I felt about teaching,and that's why I went into it.
I loved that. I love itthat that it was. You know,
oftentimes what we dream about being asa child is far from what we become
as an adult. But you actuallythat worked for you. That's that's pretty
(03:53):
cool. Now as I kind ofled to make making the move from I
want to I say nine to five, but being a school teacher is not
a nine to five. It's muchdifference. But from a career where you
have someone else basically structuring your scheduleand your days off and all that,
(04:13):
all of that right, going fromthat position into an actual business owner where
you now have to wear the CEOcap and you have to run everything,
that's a pretty big different, prettybig change. So what made you decide
that you wanted to become a businessowner, especially of something like a child.
(04:35):
I mean, we kind of heardwith your kids, but you know
you're you have multiple childcare centers.What made you want to make that transition?
Well, I think initially I wasgoing from my second master's in educational
leadership, so naturally that would bringme to a position as a supervisor a
(04:55):
principal. And I had two youngchildren, so at the time, I
had a nanny and I started lookingfor childcare for my children, both of
them. My daughter was, youknow, a baby, and my son
was just before turning three, sothey're twenty one months apart. So I
started doing my search, I wouldvisit, go on tours, and every
(05:18):
time I went on a tour,I had tears in my eyes and I
just thought to myself, like,how do I leave my children with strangers?
How do I leave them with peoplethat I don't know? And that
was it was very scary for meand daunting. So with conversations with my
father, you know, I wastelling him about it. You know,
this is going to be so hard. How do I leave them? And
(05:40):
he had said to me, whydon't you just open up your own childcare
center? And at first I thought, Okay, I'm a teacher. There's
no way that I can own myown business. How would I go about
doing it? And at first Ithought this is just a crazy suggestion.
But then I went back. Iwas reading Specialist at the time in Paquonic
nu Jery, and I started doingresearch. I started, you know,
(06:03):
looking at commercial property, you know, what do I need to open up
my own childcare center? And thenin the search, I started looking up
brand names. So I looked upmultiple franchises, and I wasn't really sure
if I should go the franchise routeor if I should go, you know,
the independent route. So I justcontinued to search and search and search,
(06:26):
and I did have meetings with acouple other franchise companies. But then
I came across the Learning Experience andat the time, they were much smaller
and they were based out of NewJersey. Now they're in Florida, and
it was a really small office.But I met the owners, you know,
of the Learning Experience, and Ijust fell in love with the people
(06:46):
in the office. And you know, being like a very empathetic person and
a pupil person, I'm very focusedon relationships. It just felt right and
I just had conversations with my family. I had conversations with them, and
I thought this, this feels good, This feels good, and I think
I can do it. So wedecided to go for it in two thousand
(07:10):
and six, and then two thousandand eight is when I was matched to
my first school in Waldwick, NewJersey. And I wouldn't be honest if
I wasn't telling you when I didsign the papers for Waldwick, New Jersey,
that I thought, I don't knowthat I could do this. I
loved teaching like I loved my job, and it was something I was passionate
(07:30):
about and I could never imagine notbeing a teacher. And I just had
a lot of encouragement from the wholeteam at tia Lee headquarters and they were
very supportive even when I tried tochange my mind. They brought me into
a room, sat me down andsaid, you can do this. I
know you can do this, andyou will be very successful. And I
(07:51):
was only signing on for one schoolat the time, and it was just
you know, going into a brandnew school that's empty, no children,
I have one child, open,a thousand square foot facility, and just
the thought, how now what doI do? You know, I was
(08:11):
a teacher, so I felt,you know, my first couple of days,
I said to my dad, Isaid, you know, I'm not
teaching right now, and he's like, no, you're not. He's like,
you're now in sales and marketing.And I thought, wow, right,
so now I'm not teaching anymore.But you know, I did realize
over time, and it took mea lot of time to realize this.
I'm now teaching also teachers, sonow I'm a teacher of teachers, and
(08:35):
you know, it was just Ifelt, like, to answer your question,
how did I go from teacher toyou know, business owner. It
was from being a mom, itwas from being on you know, and
my daughter ended up coming to workwith me, so she was one of
my first preschoolers. Yeah, sotell us about because you you were obviously
(08:56):
passionate about education for children as ateacher, and that was something and you
wanted to get into those management positionswhere you could make a difference. I'm
sure that was part of the drivefor you. What was it about this
particular franchise, like the Learning Exchange? What was it that our experience,
sorry not exchange the learning experience?What was it about that particular franchise that
(09:22):
made you think I can make adifference here. I cannot just build a
business where I can also have mykids, but I can also build a
business that's going to benefit other children. Like why did you choose that particular
franchise? So back in two thousandand six, I chose the Learning Experience
(09:43):
because they had a very unique readingprogram. And that's my background, so
I'm a reading specialist. I'm verymuch into literacy. I think it's very
important, you know, at theearly age where teaching children how to read,
and then as they get older,once they learned how to read,
(10:03):
their reading to learn, and thatwas something that was so important to me,
and when I did visit, evenjust as a mom, it was
one of the components that stood outto me. It's actually purposeful, but
it's also fun. It's engaging childrenlearn through play, and it made sense
for me. So that's why Ichose the Learning Experience. But then also
(10:28):
as the years went on, youknow, that company, the learning experience
became so much more than just choosingit because of their reading program. They
are very progressive and they also listento their people, so any suggestions that
franchises have, they want to hearit because our ideas make the whole company
(10:48):
better. And now the learning experience, it's not just about reading, it's
not just about math, it's notjust about science. But we also have
our own proprietary philanthropy preprogram, whichis also something very close to my heart.
That we teach children deliberately to careabout other people at a young age,
(11:09):
you know, and it doesn't matterhow big or small you are,
it's the size of your heart thatmatters. And that's something that like with
time, I really pride myself onthe Learning Experience and being part of this
because it's so much more than justteaching children academic it's also their emotional and
social growth, which I see inthe world to be like the key to
(11:31):
such huge. Yeah, it ishuge. It's not just about like how
smart you are, like how yourIQ is high. It's about your EQ,
right, It's how you can relateto other people, care about other
people. It's everything is about buildingrelationships now, especially more so than ever
since COVID. Yeah, yeah,since COVID and since the the the bigger
(11:54):
part that technology and social media playsa role in our lives. You know,
you combine those it's and are theyoung ones that are in this preschool
age or in elementary school their relationshipwith human beings is so important because there's
so much technology being thrown at themconstantly. Yeah, so this is it's
(12:20):
interesting because you chose not just achildcare center, but an actual early childhood
education to build your business around,which I think is portant. And I
love what you were saying about readingbecause as as the brain lady, right,
one of the things that I emphasizedto when I am speaking to that
(12:41):
group, to a group of parents, is that engaging with them in conversation
and reading to them in those veryvery young years is so incredibly important because
the brain goes through this pruning,you know, the thing before elementary school,
and things that aren't getting used literallyget pruned out areas of the brain,
neurons that are inactive, right,they get that those areas get pruned
(13:05):
out. So you want to keepthose reading language, all of that just
like on fire in the brain sothat the brain will hold on to all
of those connections. I love,yeah, I love that you just shared
that because something that we're really focusedon is the intentional classroom and it's really
like you know, observing children,whether it's with literacy or whether it's just
(13:28):
them playing with blocks, you know, talking to other children, but to
be able to ask them you know, open end to questions, which I
think is exactly what you're saying,is you know, getting those creative juices
going and you know, using thepart of the brain that's going to help
them to grow and develop rather thankeeping it stagnant, you know, not
putting children into a box where okay, today we're going to make a robot
(13:52):
and the robot's going to look likethis, but letting them be able to
come up with their own ideas.Yeah, that's beautiful too, because that
helps them to foster that, Iwould think as well to foster their self
confidence, right, because you're nottelling them, look, there's a right
way and there's a wrong way,and if you don't do it this way,
then you are wrong. Right.But when you give them the opportunity
(14:16):
to expand and explore their own ideas, now it's shifting and you're giving them
that confidence that can carry them forthe rest of their life. For sure,
Now I wish I had it becauseit's as you're talking, you're making
me think about so many different thingsover here. But it's all about taking
risks. So right, when youallow them to be creative and you're not
(14:39):
saying this is the right way,there's really no right way and there's really
no wrong way, right, So, but you're letting them take a risk,
which does create confidence. But whenyou say there's a wrong way,
that child's just trying. They're justtrying to do it this way right because
they don't want it to be wrong. And I think like in life,
as you said to care, areyou forward, life is all about risk
(15:01):
taking. Yeah, yeah, Anda lot of times that get stunted so
much in those early years, andwhen you stunt it in those early years,
you don't even realize that when you'rean adult, right, you don't
even make take those traces back tosay, oh, wait a minute.
You know it's because I talk aboutwhen I'm talking about mindset and getting past
(15:24):
block, you know, the insignificantthings said to you by significant people in
your life. And I include teachersin that significant people because teachers have such
a huge influence on the developing mindand the developing brain. And if you
know, if you're constantly, asyou said, trying to fit them into
this one block, this one box, this one set of doing things.
(15:46):
You know, we don't want littlemindless minions. We actually want people to
come up with solutions to the problems. And in order to do that,
they have to be able to utilizetheir own gifts in their brain. That's
awesome. That's awesome. And youdo a lot of this kind of play
and exploration in in your centers.Yes, yes, a lot of choices.
(16:08):
Our children have. They're exposed tolots of different you know, avenues
in the classroom, lots of manipulatives, multisensory, but they are definitely like
encouraged to uh take a risks,are encouraged to, you know, to
try something new. And we also, like you had mentioned before, it's
(16:29):
just having those conversations with them.Conversations are key and it's really interesting what
they come up with. It's alsoa lot of fun too. Yeah,
yeah, I always I've always toldpeople it's so funny. I'm such a
unique one. You know. There'scertain stages of development that I just love,
and one of them is that thatwhen people say, you know,
(16:52):
they reach the terrible twos, like, I love that. I love those
ages when they're starting to express themselvesand starting to explore because you can sit
back and you can watch their littlebrains just growing and expanding, and those
are just such beautiful moments to beable to see kids express themselves and be
comfortable expert doing so, you know, because that's kind of before they get
(17:17):
shut down and then then we moldthem. And of course obviously we want
them to have manners and you know, get along with the other kids and
everything. So I'm not saying justlet them run willy nilly, but I'm
saying that's a beautiful it's a beautifuldevelopment time. That in the teen years,
you know, such a beautiful developmenttime for the brains. So how
old are your kids now? Somy son is twenty, I'll be twenty
(17:42):
one in March, and my daughteris nineteen. So wow, both products
of the learning experience. I loveit. Now they when you ask them,
like, do they appreciate? Dothey or do they recognize? Not
necessarily appreciate, because I'm sure theyappreciate you as mom and the things that
you did for them, I'm sure, But do they recognize the benefits of
(18:06):
the activities and the things that theylearn in the in the learning exchange when
they were little? They do.My daughter actually attended mine and so her
teacher, Miss Carrie, still worksfor me, believe it or not.
So Daniella now is nineteen. SoCarrie has been with me for a very
long time, but she does.And actually we were going through I keep
(18:30):
I have one box only like oftheir school any like school memorabilia. I
said that. And when the boxis full, like I always like replace
it with something else because I justwant them to have that when they get
older. And we were going throughit, and she came across something she
did in her preschool class and sheremembered everything about it, and it was
it was really really cute and itwas pretty We both like laughed about it
(18:52):
her responses. And then my son, one hundred percent, he still he
did not go to my location becausehe's a little older, but he did
go to the one in Wayne,which was a corporately owned center, and
he still to this day remembers hispreal teacher, Ms. Kathy and he
still talks about her. So,yes, they still remember and they do
(19:14):
appreciate it. That's beautiful and that'sgreat for any of the listeners who have
young children to understand how important thatimpact is, that positive influence at such
a young age, because it's thosememories that are formed and they can be
negative, right, but we wantthem to be positive. So being in
an environment that foster's learning and foster'screativity is a beautiful, beautiful place to
(19:40):
be. So now you talk aboutthis particular company, right, the corporate
company, how have they supported youalong the way, Because obviously, if
it's been nineteen years, eighteen years, however long it's been eighteen years,
however long it's been since I signedsome ten years. But my first location
has been open for fifteen and ahalf years and half years, so that's
(20:06):
a long that's a long time andyou have multiple franchises now, So how
have they supported you as a companyand what did that mean to you as
a woman developing her I know,for lack of a better word, empire,
but her, you know, youryour businesses over the years, So
(20:29):
they are very, very supportive.But I used the word before progressive,
and that's what always sticks with mebecause now, more so than ever,
we're so focused on a positive workculture for all of our team members and
I feel like they took the leadwith it, but they also they want
to hear from us, and they'remulti unit owners such as myself. They
(20:52):
do plan you know, learning eventsfor us where we go to you know,
te ly HQ, and we do. We learn together, we grow
together. But everything I learn fromthat I take back and implement with my
team. So they're very they're vestedin our success. And the way I
always describe it is it's more likea business partner. It's a partnership.
(21:15):
So like my success is their success, and the more successful tia Le becomes
as a whole, the more successfulI can be. And I feel like
we grow along side of each other. And I think even you know,
things like our philanthropy program that Imentioned before, that's I continually talk about
it because it's something that's important tome. I do think more than ever
(21:38):
it's just so important to care aboutpeople. But we have this partnership with
Make a Wish So like as awhole, like we all rally together and
we're teaching our little learners to youknow, to raise money to help a
child who has a life threatening illness, to be able to give them hope,
(22:00):
right to get through their treatment,and to see that that maybe you
know, things will be okay andthat there is a light at the end
of the tunnel. And that's somethingthat we like purposely, you know,
teach our children, and that's somethingthat came from from the team at hq
SO. And then what a goodidea because it like brings us all all
together and we're all like, okay, we want to raise this many wishes
(22:23):
or this many wishes and on acute little level with our little guys,
I get the learning experience. Theydo things like big sales. They they'll
do like a talent show for theirfamilies, but they really understand like they
understand, like I'm doing this becauseI want to help another child's so so
(22:44):
in terms of support, I mean, it's amazing, but it's like it's
more about like just growing a business. It's about like creating this amazing life
not only for like franchisees, butalso for our children and our families and
you know everybody that works in ourcenters, you know, our entire team.
So that's cool. That's really cool. Now, how has being because
(23:08):
it kind of coming back to helpingwomen excel and the whole purpose of making
the brand switch that we did intwenty twenty four to women excelling everywhere from
just focusing on women entrepreneurs. Wantingwomen to excel or have the feeling and
(23:29):
the confidence to be able to excelin every aspect of their life is very
important and that's a big part ofour mission. Now as a mom,
how did being a mom? AndI'm asking you this question kind of partially
because other moms out there that mightbe listening thinking, oh, I want
to become a business owner or Iwant to develop more of my entrepreneurial journey,
(23:52):
Like, how has being a momplayed a role in your success?
What things can they learn as amom that can help them have success in
their in their business. I guesslike for so two parts. One is
I feel like I'm successful because likemy children are my catalysts, you know,
and you know, I want toteach my daughter, right and my
(24:15):
son what work ethic is about,and that if you want to own your
own business, and you have theentrepreneur entrepreneurial mindset, you know, it's
really about working on your business,not in your business. So if you
are a mom, let's say youhave young children, it's really you're you're
the visionary, right, so,and then you have the integrators right in
(24:37):
your business. And then you haveyou know, our team members who are
with our kids every day and they'reat our centers. So I think,
you know, being a mom,it's it really just makes me stronger because
you know, I want to dothis for them. But it's also like
I feel like I'm their role model, right and my son can my son
(24:59):
so very often, you know,because he sees what I do and he
sees like I came from one.I was a teacher, had one school
and never thought I would own two, three, four or five, and
I just kept going. And nowyou know, I will have twelve very
shortly, and who knows, maybeI'll even have more. But I think
you can have that balance. Butagain, it's not working in your business.
(25:22):
You have to work on your business. You have to create that team,
You have to instill those values.Your mission statement has to be lived
out every day and your core valueshave to be like part of everybody and
everything that's beautiful, that's that's beautiful, and it is very important because you
have to build a team if youwant to grow and expand there's only so
(25:42):
much you can do is on yourown, and that's building a team is
crucial to the growth of your businessas as an entrepreneur. So as we
as we get ready to wrap upthe interview here, this has been a
delight What piece what's the best pieceof advice that you would give to women
(26:03):
who are listening to help them excel, to help them excel in their entrepreneurial
journey, or even just as aas a mom and as an individual.
So I would say too, well, first of all, continuously learn,
learn, learn, learn, learn. Something that we have like on my
team, we have something called LeadershipLounge and we meet every Tuesday and Thursday.
(26:25):
I happen to just it just happenedthis way. And maybe I have
two hundred and seventy employees and maybefour of them are men, and not
by choice, it just organically happenedthat way. But we do. We
read together, and we read alot of leadership books together. So I
would say, surround yourself with peoplethat just want to soak up knowledge and
(26:47):
you know, they want to continuouslygrow and become a better person, because
I feel like that's what I do. Like, I want to be a
better leader for everybody who works withme, you know, I want to
lead them. I want to bealongside of them. I want to be
their best coach ever and also theirbiggest cheerleader. So I think that would
be my advice. And then theother piece would be to think about what
(27:11):
is your end game, you know, because I didn't think about that in
the beginning. I thought I wouldjust have one school, that's it.
But now I look at it differently, and I'm setting up my organizational structure
not for the eight schools that arecurrently open and the nine that I've been
matched to and the three that areon the way. I'm setting myself up
for twelve. So my team isreally for the twelve schools, not for
(27:34):
the smaller number that I currently have, because I want to be able to
build into it, and I wantto keep everybody on my team. I
actually love the people that I workwith. I love them and I want
them to continuously grow and I wantto see them achieve more. That's beautiful.
I love that. I always Ialways tell people kind of something similar.
(27:56):
You know, you have to ifyou've got a five year plan,
start at the end of the fiveyears, and where do you want to
be there, you know, andyou have to build a foundation for that,
or else you're not going to beable to sustain what it is that
you're growing for. So I lovethat, and that can be applied really
in everything, right, if youwant to become a parent, or you
want to be great in a relationship. February's kind of relationship month, you
(28:17):
know, so all of those things. It's it's very good to kind of
begin with the end in mind,so to speak, what you want to
accomplish. Well, Lenan, ithas been wonderful having you on as a
guest. For those of you whoare listening, we have lots lots of
lots of ways that you can geta hold of Lenan. Now you have
you mentioned that you have nine oreight or nine and you have are expanding
(28:41):
to twelve and they're kind of allover New Jersey. And did I see
a couple of New York Westchester County, New York, and I have one
in Connecticut, Stanford, Connecticut.Yeah, So best way to get a
hold of you would be to We'vegot your email, just don't have it
in front of me. Tell ever, I would LinkedIn, LinkedIn probably the
(29:03):
best way. Yes, Otherwise allthe social media pages are each school individually,
but lad me so and to helpanyone, I love that. I
love that people that might be curiousabout the learning exchange or experience, why
do I keep calling it exchange experience? And or owning your own franchise or
(29:26):
just following and connecting with Lenane isto you know, drip from her or
take from her wisdom that she dripsout is a great way to do that.
So, once again, Lenan,thank you very much for being a
guest on the Women Excelling Everywhere podcasttoday. Thank you so much, absolutely,
and for those of you who arelistening, be sure to check the
show page, give us a thumbsup and a share if you think this
(29:49):
is information that you know other peoplecould benefit from, inspirational stories and by
all means, please share that out. We would appreciate that. If you
have a topic that you would liketo here discussed on the Women Excelling Everywhere
podcast, we would love to havethat. Have you give us that information
as well, just send us anemail at info at Women Excelling Everywhere dot
(30:11):
com. You can also check outour website there. We have different membership
levels, different coaching levels. Ifyou would like more direction or more foundation
for your business, we are certainlythere to support you. Or if you
would like to see someone in particularinterviewed on the podcast, or you would
like to be a guest on thepodcast, then reach out again to info
at Women Excelling Everywhere dot com.We also have our private membership that we
(30:34):
have launched where we are just allabout growth, whether it's business growth,
personal growth, emotional growth. Thismonth, it's relationship growth, next month
it'll be self growth. So we'reall about supporting women to excel wherever you
are at, parent, business,owner, career, whatever it is,
we want to help you do that, all right, so with that we'll
(30:56):
close up the show. We wanteverybody, as I always do, roll
your shoulders back, to take anice deep breath, go out there and
simply enjoy every moment until next time. M m mmmmmmm
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.