Sacha T.

Education

Columbia University,
BA African American and African Diaspora
Education Studies concentration

CUNY Hunter College,
Master's in Urban Policy and Leadership

Professional Childcare Experience

Mother's Helper/Weekend Nanny
Danbury, CT, 12/06 - Present
Newborn upon hire, Current ages 4, 7, 15, 16

After-school Nanny
Brooklyn, NY, 01/18 - 06/19
9 and 11

Weekend Nanny
Brooklyn, NY, 04/18 - 03/19
18 months

After-School Tutor/Babysitter
New York, NY, 02/16 - 08/17
7

Household Manager/Nanny
Brooklyn, NY, 12/10 - 12/15
8 and 10

Live-In Nanny
Chappaqua, NY, 08/06 - 06/09
8, 9 and 11

Other Experience

Student Teacher
Brooklyn, NY, 01/22 - 05/22

Retail Associate at Children's Toy/Apparel
Brooklyn, NY, 07/10 - 12/10

Temporary Educational Research Assistant
New York, NY, 04/10 - 06/10

Tutor
New York, NY, 04/10 - 06/10

About me

I grew up about 2 hours north of NYC in the Hudson Valley. I am the oldest sibling and certainly functioned as the de facto 'junior mom” growing up much to my younger sister's chagrin. I was very much involved in music and musical theatre growing up. As a child, I wanted to be a doctor in the NICU. Turns out I hate medicine, but, still love children! After some time off from college, I eventually when back to school and completed my Bachelor’s Degree at Columbia University. I majored in African American and African Diaspora studies with a concentration in Education Studies. I also considered becoming a school psychologist and graduated one class shy of an official psychology concentration.

I have 16 years of childcare experience. During that time I have worked with every age child from newborn to teenager. I have also been a full-time live-in nanny during that time and a partial live-in nanny during the summer months for my live-out families. I have occupied every role of childcare from strictly tutoring, to full charge live-in care while the parents are traveling for up to a week. During this time I have mastered everything from changing diapers and potty training to algebraic expressions. With my background in music I typically have been able to help oversee instrument practice. Additionally, I speak conversational French. Generally speaking, my duties have included light housekeeping such as emptying the dishwasher, all the way to full-blown household management where I plan meals, grocery shop and cook for the entire family.

I like to think that I am the perfect bridge between a more traditional nanny who values discipline and manners and a more fun “big sister” type nanny. I believe that almost everything is a teachable moment. I also really emphasize the importance of becoming a good global citizen in macro and micro ways such as making sure to hold the door for the person behind you, to understanding and reducing our carbon footprint by recycling. For me, working with kids is both an honor and a pleasure!

I have professional child care experience with...

  • Check Icon
    Infants
  • Check Icon
    Toddlers
  • Check Icon
    Preschoolers
  • Check Icon
    School-aged (K-5)
  • Check Icon
    Preteen
  • Check Icon
    Teenagers
  • Check Icon
    Multiples

In 5 years, I hope to be...

I am currently enrolled in a Master's program at Hunter College where I am majoring in Urban Policy and Leadership with a special interest in education policy. Throughout my time as a nanny, I was able to see the direct impact that one on one tutelage can have on students and I would like to hopefully scale some of those practices to children at large. Hopefully, in the future, I am working with an organization that furthers that goal, or at the very least, holds equity and equality at the forefront of their business model. I would also like to continue working with children in some capacity during my whole life, even if that is only in a mentor capacity.

Activities & skills I love to teach & share with children...

One of the best parts of interacting with children is how surprising it can be. Children are always coming up with creative and insightful ways of seeing the world around them. I personally like to support that natural curiosity and try to adopt a very Socratic approach to talking about things by often meeting their questions with one of my own. I find that this makes kids more critical thinkers and also sets them up to be able to find the answers to their own questions. I am also a big fan of themes. I love incorporating a student's curriculum into home life by coordinating the food we eat, the music we listen to, and the multimedia experiences we are engaging in the theme in an age-appropriate way. For example, if a child is learning about ancient Egypt for example, for younger children that might mean playing silly games, we wrap each other up in tissue as mummies, whereas the older students we might watch a Hollywood film adaptation of Egyptian culture and compare and contrast the historical accuracy. While academic enrichment is very important, overall, it is much more important to me that I help children to be kind, thoughtful individuals and try to model behavior that supports that.