About me

I grew up in central Illinois, the fourth of six kids. Childcare is in my blood! The Shea women all have a passion for young minds. Three generations are early childhood educators. My youngest brother is now 13 and on the autism spectrum. He was placed with us through the foster care system when he was just three weeks old, and since then I have been his sister and caregiver after school, on the weekends, and anytime my parents were working. I was a very creative kid who loved to perform, but also loved to be in charge. I went on to study Theater Directing at The University of Michigan and recently graduated with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. I see Theater and Arts Education as interconnected to early childhood education, curiosity, and play. Before college, I spent time teaching English in cities across the globe including Madrid, Lisbon, and Budapest. I am a skilled language educator and love to bring this into my work in childcare.

During this year abroad I worked as a private tutor and nanny to a family of three (2, 6, and 9). We would practice English, work on homework, swap recipes, and make crafts. This was my first long term childcare position, and I loved developing that relationship with the family. While my college classes were remote, I spent a few months as a live-in teacher to a family of 2 (6 & 9), writing supplemental lesson plans to their online learning, along with additional housekeeping responsibilities. Then, I worked for an incredible family of two (2 & 4) and facilitated their online learning and childcare. This was during the height of Covid, and the family and I developed a very close connection. This was a full time position ranging from teaching, entertaining, meal prep, facilitating playdates and extracurriculars, cleaning, putting the kids to bed, and more. I traveled with this family on multiple occasions. I was devastated to leave them, only doing so to finish my college degree in person.

While in college I learned the skills of a quality assistant. I assisted numerous residential and visiting directors with responsibilities ranging from creative input, organization, or everyday errands.