What a great pleasure to connect with the investigative journalist, podcaster and mom, Sally Hubbard when I was interviewed on her podcast: Women Killing It.

“You don’t need a degree in acting to get involved, just a willingness to jump in and play. “

Sally asked about the inception of Child’s Play, career highlights, mentors, and tools I use to help make my businesses run!  We had first crossed paths when she created “The Parent Maze”, a site to helping busy moms navigate the world wide web and all the providers of child-centric things from birthing doulas to classes for kids.  I had just started Child’s Play NY as a theater program and used the site to get referrals and reviews, it was ahead of it’s time for sure!

Sally’s creativity is ever-evolving, and now with Women Killing It, she is creating a network of women who can learn from each other’s triumphs and challenges, simply by listening to her podcast.

There is a kind of entrepreneurial sisterhood that ties the women together who are interviewed on her successful podcast.  I was privileged to spend the afternoon talking and connecting with her and with her wonderful audience.

 What I Talk about:

  • Starting Child’s Play NY and Child’s Play in Action.
  • My early training at Wesleyan University and NYU Grad Acting.
  • After graduation, I worked doing theater outreach with at-risk kids which is when I realized what impact theater work can have.
  • The growth of Childs Play NY from a camp with 3 kids to a program is in 12 schools that employs 25 teaching artists.
  • Childs Play In Action as a weekly video-cast to extend the reach beyond NY and help parents directly.
  • Theater games to teach children important life skills, as a parenting resource or a way to pass the time on a rainy day.
  • These games are also important for the parents as it teaches the “yes and” style of improvisation to take them out of the daily grind and inspire joy.
  • Play is important for children’s brain development.
  • My work with developmental psychologists from Seedlings Group when starting the video series.
  • The videos and program are aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 11.
  • The upper age limit of NY classes is extending as my first recruits are growing up, but sticking with the program.
  • I feel like I’ve “made it” anytime a new school calls or a new parent signs up online.

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Advice I Give

  • Prioritize yourself
  • “When you examine your life ask yourself, ‘Am I feeling that joy? Am I happy and fulfilled?’ When you do take that step and find those things that are the more rotten limbs of your life or the extra stuff that’s holdover from a time you thought you were going to go somewhere and be something else, to just do your part to cut it away.”
  • Find supportive people and women and gather them around you.
  • When you can, delegate.
  • Organize yourself and stay accountable, using Voxer, Google apps, and calendars.
  • Keep learning, either self-taught or online courses – B-school is especially great.
  • Knowing what you don’t want is often as important as knowing what you do want.

Check out our full conversation below!