“Every child deserves a childhood they don’t have to recover from,” Keshia Jenkins maintains. But many children don’t get it, as Keshia saw during 20 years as an early childhood teacher on the south side of Tallahassee. “When children came to Miracles in Me, the child care center where I was working, they were often tired or hungry, and some of them came from homes where they experienced trauma,” Keshia recalls. So, she would try to give them the sense of reassurance they so badly needed. “I would start every day by closing my door and telling the kids, ‘You are safe here. Whatever is going on in your world out there, this is a safe place.'”
Keshia has known how to get across to young children since she found her vocation at age 12. “I was at a family reunion, where I was playing on the floor with the little kids, when one of my older cousins walked up to me. She was an early childhood teacher, and she said, ‘I’m handing the torch over to you. You’re the next teacher in the family.'”
That cousin was right, as Keshia realized after she finished high school and found a job at a day care. “I started as a floater,” she recalls, “and I loved those babies so much that I wanted to perfect my craft. I received my CDA in 2014, and it opened my eyes to best practices and how children learn.” It also inspired her to advance her education and go on to get her associate degree in 2017. Last month she earned her bachelor’s in early childhood education, and this fall she’s starting her master’s in ECE, with an emphasis on special education. She also takes new training courses all the time because she knows that teachers must never stop learning.
And all the education she’s pursued has allowed her to advance her career. Keshia has worked her way up to a teacher, then an administrator, then finally a director. And last year she started her own business, Brain Building Consulting, to help centers serve young children better. “I assist the centers with class management, teacher retention, behavioral management and class observation,” she explains. “I’m also a family child care provider on the weekends and at night. I provide care to a lot of parents who work in hospitals, law enforcement or Walmart and don’t have traditional hours. There aren’t a lot of providers who offer that kind of care in my area, so I provide it to parents who need it.”
Keshia puts herself out for parents like this because she knows where they’re coming from. And she’s been there. “I’m a single mom,” she explains, “and I remember how hard it was when I was working at the center, holding another job, trying to find care for my kids, and getting an education. When I was getting my bachelor’s, I was so tired I would have dropped out in my last semester if my advisor, Cammy Quick, hadn’t convinced me to keep going. ‘You have a gift, and the world needs you,’ Dr. Quick firmly insisted. So, I kept going and I want these parents to keep going, too. The services I provide them come from my heart.”
So does the assistance and guidance that she provides to centers through her business. As a woman of color, she wants to make a strong impact on minority-owned centers in low-income areas of Tallahassee. “The funding and the training often aren’t there,” she explains, and that makes an impact on the children. “I’ve seen what’s going on at many of the centers with children being suspended or kicked out.” And the reason, she’s convinced, is that teachers don’t get properly trained to handle the kids. “Sometimes they start out with good intentions but get overwhelmed by all the requirements and laws. So, I want to show the educators that I’m in this with you.”
She expects that our early child teachers will face especially great challenges in the coming year. “We have a whole cohort of babies who are growing up in quarantine and have only seen mommy for a whole year. So, they’re going to have socio-emotional delays. Our early childhood teachers are going to have to teach them about compassion and sharing.” The teachers will also be dealing with language delays, Keshia explains, because the children haven’t had much interaction with other adults and kids. “It is proven that when children can’t communicate with you, their behavior is going to be affected and they’ll get easily frustrated or upset.” So, the work of getting children socially ready for kindergarten is only going to get harder.
Social and emotional skills matter, as kindergarten teachers admit to Keshia. “I always ask them, ‘What can I do to prepare my babies for you?’ And they tell me we need the children to be socially ready. Can they share with a friend? Can they wait in line? Can they sit and listen to a song? Do they know how to be kind and love one another?” They don’t teach these skills in kindergarten and they’re the foundation of learning.
“We now have a whole generation of children who are coming in behind the finish line,” Keshia says, “and we’re going to have to take them from where they are to where they should be.” And that’s a lot of work for a profession that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, as Keshia has seen in her own life. “When I tell people I’m in early childhood education, they sometimes say, ‘You’re not a real teacher.’ But I insist that I’m just as much a teacher as an elementary school teacher. Sometimes I feel I’m even more important because the brain grows at such a rapid rate in the years from birth to five. As early childhood teachers, we’re in charge of taking that developing brain and making it great.”
That’s a lot to ask from folks who often face the same hardships as the low-income families they serve. “How can you expect me as an educator to compartmentalize?” Keshia asks. “The families are having trouble putting food on the table. I’m having trouble putting food on the table. My lights were turned off the night before, and then I come into a classroom of children whose lights were turned off the night before, too. How can you expect me to afford my training, to pay for my student loans?”
Keshia wants some answers, so she’s advocating for our early childhood teachers. “I work with some local groups who support our field, I go to conferences where I meet local government people and I email lawmakers to start a conversation. It’s very grassroots work, and I often put myself outside my comfort zone,” she admits. “But I keep going because I’m determined to make a positive impact on a profession that I love.”
Keshia has also brought this sense of passion to her current work as a consultant for early childhood centers. “While I was doing training at one of the centers,” she recalls, “I met a single teen mom who was working as a classroom aide. I don’t think she really set out to be an early childhood teacher. But I saw something in her, so I became her mentor. She’s earned her CDA, is now getting her associate degree, and has become a wonderful teacher.” This young woman’s life has changed, and the turning point may have come when Keshia spoke the words that Cammy Quick had used to make her persist: “You have a gift. Keep going.”
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Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer
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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