Let these 3 stories of success give you the courage to triumph over your insecurities and embark on your next venture.
1. Esther Law, Allegro Music & Arts
A Pure Passion for the Arts
There are people who love music, and there are people whose passion for music overflows and becomes a blessing for those who learn from them. Madam Esther Law is one of the latter and when it comes to music education, the spirited lady spares no effort in ensuring that each and every student at her music centre, Allegro Music & Arts, gets the exposure they need to the best teaching methodologies by qualified and experienced educators.
Being in the same industry for the past 28 years, Madam Esther is not in it for the financial returns.
In fact, she is perfectly content with an ROI of seeing her students succeed and take their music to great heights. She takes her profession seriously, hence it wasn’t exactly surprising to find that she had students who moved on to become concert masters, concert pianists, and more. “You need to have a certain passion to persevere and continue in your journey in whatever you do, and for me, it’s my passion that has driven me to where I am today,” she revealed to Kiddy 123.
Music, to Madam Esther, is akin to mathematics. “It adds up. If you work your way step by step, you cannot go wrong. Music has structure and form, and for educators, it’s very important to be able to impart this understanding and knowledge to their students. Touching on the subject of teaching music, Madam Esther laments that many Malaysians tend to feel that having a Grade 8 paper in piano, for instance, automatically qualifies them to become a piano teacher. “But you’ll have to consider the fact that parents pay a lot of money to enroll their children into music classes with hope that one day, they will put it to good use and make something great out of it. This is why I feel that in the music profession, being an educator requires much more than just certain qualifications.” From her standpoint, without a strong passion for the art and the drive to see one’s students succeed, a career in music education would be almost meaningless.
To be educators of this industry of arts, Madam Esther feels that it’s crucial to keep evolving. “One cannot teach the way one was taught 30 years ago, for the methodology as well as psychology of educating does not stay the same. It doesn’t work that way, therefore teachers need to be trained accordingly in delivering the current needs of students today. An exemplary teacher is one with a good qualification, a great profile, experience, as well as the ability to adapt to any kind of character. Evolvement is crucial to keep lessons dynamic and interesting for the students, or else boredom may set in and that will never do.”
In this age of artificial intelligence, as Madam Esther points out, where people tend to assume that anything can be learned or studied online, it is important that parents know what a good music school, one that takes its tasks seriously, can offer for a child’s future. “Before anything else, I make it a point to ask parents if they know what their child wants - is it to dance, draw, play an instrument or sing? After all, it’s important parents know what they’re signing up for, and the last thing we want is for a child to take up something that doesn’t interest him as much as it does his parents,” she shared. For all the above reasons and probably more, we now understand why Madam Esther anticipates nothing but absolute success for each student in her music academy.
2. Coach Hanky & Coach Olly, HANKidz
Developing Enlightened Leaders of Tomorrow
There was a time in the life of Coach Olly when all she wanted to do was keep climbing up the corporate ladder. As a five-figure income earner at the time, she still wasn’t sure what she wanted in life, till an associate director enrolled her into a personal development course. It was an intriguing endeavor, for Coach Olly came to a realisation that what she really wanted in her life was to become a mother. “As mind-blowing as it was even to me, I was absolutely certain about what I wanted at last, and I have my trainer to thank for this eye-opening transformation in me. That also made me wonder about all the things I may be able to do if I too had the power to effect change on other people, just like the effect my trainer had on me,” she revealed to Kiddy123 in a recent interview.
After marrying her boyfriend of 11 years, Coach Olly experienced two miscarriages. One day, as emotions overcame her, she decided to quit her job and give a much-desired pregnancy another go. This time around, she was successful, carrying it (and another consequent pregnancy) to full term. She realised her dream of becoming a mother and felt blessed.
Somewhere down this journey, Olly took up the offer of Coach Hanky for a joint venture in setting up Hankidz. “Although this meant some significant financial sacrifice for me, I decided to go for it. I saw it as an opportunity of sorts, whereby I get to know how to nurture other people’s kids as well as my own, to serve, and at the same time build my own business,” she shared.
That was eight years ago, and today, Hankidz is steadily growing in reputation among parents as well as children themselves. The kids at Hankidz, aged between 3-12 years, just love to be here! It is an integration of kindergarten, preschool and enrichment centre as well as daycare for children. There are also special camps including public ones held for teenagers and these too are always a hit with the participants.
At Hankidz, there are no employees, as Coach Olly pointed out. Rather, there are over-qualified coaches - more than forty in counting, including the kindy and preschool teachers, and most are full time with Hankidz. They consist of University graduates as well as NLP graduates who are constantly growing themselves. In fact, at Hankidz, regular Coach Our Coach nights are held so that coaches can keep at the top of their game. “We also have ICF certified coaches to ensure amiable results in children’s growth and development. At the end of the day, our aim is to build confidence, responsibility and leadership skills in children, starting from as young as possible,” Olly stated with conviction. It seems that Coach Olly is after all, in the profession of effecting changes in others like she always wanted to.
“This is an academic-driven society we’re living in. We have received kids who hated school, had problems getting their homework done, and so on, which are all the norm for school-going kids these days. Here is where we transform them for the better. We get them to appreciate their homework and help them understand what they’re doing too, through accelerated as well as experiential learning skills, as opposed to hurriedly getting it done regardless if they understood it or not,” Olly explained.
Children at Hankidz thrive in an environment which is conducive for building self-esteem, focus, courage, respect, sense of responsibility and grit. Through guidance, they are moved to improve the way they think and to better themselves, day to day. They also get to enhance their growth via effective NLP techniques so that by the time they are young adults, they would be enlightened, confident, outreaching, and ready to lead by example.
As for the enrichment part, at Hankidz, the focus is on leadership transformation, as explained by Coach Hanky himself, who joined our interview later on. “Children need to learn at a young age to take ownership of whatever situation they are in and be able to express themselves freely and confidently. For that to happen, they have to be coached in their mindsets and attitudes towards learning and participating,” he shared.
Here, at Hankidz, Coach Hanky, Coach Olly as well as the rest work together tirelessly to help children develop holistically in terms of their mind, body, soul and social aspects. One ultimate aim of Hankidz’s leadership transformation is to build up to at least a thousand ambassadors in the next five years, with hopes that this group of leaders will one day make a stand for our country and also for a better world. Hence the vision at Hankidz: To create world peace and abundance by developing enlightened leaders.
3. Alexandra Sim, Choo Choo Train Baby & Childcare Centre
Meeting the Demands of Quality Childcare
It’s not unusual for working parents to lament about the lack of good quality daycare services for their precious little ones, especially when taking into account the need for the day, which is a wholesome environment which can also provide a good early childhood educational experience for their child. Many families residing in and around certain areas of Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya as well as Shah Alam have found salvation in a daycare provider known as Choo Choo Train Baby & Childcare Centre (CCT), founded by Alexandra Sim, a mother of one.
Established about 7 years ago, CCT caters to the developmental needs of 2 months to 4 years, aiming to help build a solid foundation for children in readiness for kindergarten and beyond.
Alexandra is a shining example of perseverance and determination when it comes to ensuring the success of her centres, (of which there are eight in counting), whereby she constantly oversees the quality of care being carried out in each outlet. She is known to be a perfectionist and a hands-on individual who takes the trouble to ensure that her centres adhere to SOP guidelines and are doing well, and she does so by maintaining a positive relationship with all her franchisees. Madam Alexandra herself shows up at her centre every day, leading by example and hope to be a good role model for her team.
As a mother herself, Madam Alexandra struggled to find the kind of quality care and services in all the daycare centres she visited when she needed to send her child to one, years ago. “I was looking in vain for a good childcare centre with a good programme, conducive environment and loving care for my child. What I was searching for was a centre that offered a holistic experience with a good balance of academics and quality care. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one that I was satisfied with back then,” she told Kiddy123 recently. “It was out of that necessity that I decided to establish CCT - so that I could not only place my child in a centre that meets my requirements, but also provide quality childcare for parents in the local community as well,” she continued.
Madam Alexandra took up course after course to enable her to design her amiable programme, set up a good system as well as provide nutritious meals for her centres. It was years ago when she set out to accomplish these, and today, 10 years down the road, she has earned the right to bask in the sense of achievement as well as satisfaction. “It’s nothing short of gratifying, getting to see a child grow from a vulnerable baby into a competent, confident, independent individual,” she shared.
Madam Alexandra has never veered from her vision to prioritise the needs of families while growing with the needs of the local community around it. She has always been adamant to the belief that children flourish in an environment which values their own individuality, which is why she ensures children at her centres are provided with ample learning opportunities and have the support they need to grow socially, creatively and emotionally. As Madam Alexandra puts it, CCT is a place to belong, a place to grow and a place where great minds are born.
For these purposes too, all CCT childcare staff are qualified nurses and professional educators with academic training in early childhood education, and who are trained in childcare safety procedures that meet the centre’s standards for high quality services. Personality and good attitude are also top requirements to be a CCT childcare staff.
To top it off, the specialised Organic & Nutritious Food Plan at CCT was the result of many years of R & D, to ensure that children receive the kind of daily nutrition needed for proper growth and development.
CCT has come a long way, from not getting much recognition in the beginning, to now, when parents themselves are recommending the centre to their friends. “Parents are asking for us to open at more locations, and kindergarten teachers are recommending us after seeing the performance of children who graduated from CCT,” revealed the proud founder. “But it hasn’t been an easy journey though. The most difficult is building positive relationships with parents, which is critical to providing the best care possible to their children. I am grateful to have persevered through managing their expectations and requests, and keeping them satisfied while engaging in effective problem-solving without having my own internal feelings interfere with any of it,” she added.
“I am happy and grateful to be of service to the working parents in the local community; to be able to provide good quality, professional childcare, at an affordable fee. It is especially important to me that parents have a peace of mind knowing that their children are being taken care of in a loving environment while they build the essential skills and knowledge during the most critical learning years of their lives,” concluded Madam Alexandra Sim.
