Joyous Montessori is a unique school providing children with early education based on the globally renowned Montessori philosophy. The school is currently present in Keller, Lewisville and Fort Worth Texas, USA. Each location is independently owned and operated.
All their centers have trained and certified staff members passionate about children and focus on quality care. Their low student-to-teacher ratio enables them to give one-on-one attention and create the perfect learning environment.
At Joyous Montessori, they motivate each child to explore his or her full potential. Supplementing their quality materials and curriculum through their extensive enrichment program allows them to address the child’s emotional, physical, and social needs.
All Joyous Montessori schools are in secure, safe, and scenic settings while they are well-connected. The outside play areas are surrounded by a canopy of trees that ensure shade from spring to fall creating the perfect outdoor space.
Founder Vandana Semwal has an extensive background in the childcare industry, a Montessori teacher certification from Collin County Community College, and ten years of experience in Montessori education and management. Joyous Montessori took over multiple struggling schools, turned them around to be profitable businesses and sold some of them to focus on newer opportunities. Joyous Montessori was started in 2010 and transitioned to a franchising model in 2017.
They envision growing and expanding as they continue and look forward to partnering with like-minded families and professionals who are as passionate about children and love to make a difference in their lives through wholesome education.
Through raising her own kids, Vandana was able to fully understand the psychology of a child. This experience along with Montessori education enabled her to setup the program in such a way that every child is cared for and has the best start in life.
Many years of experience in Accounting, Finance, Cash management, sales, purchasing, and auditing helps her keep the financial aspects in balance with the needs of the business.
1. In the last few years, what lifestyle, habit or behavior change has had the biggest positive impact on your life?
The last few years have been a balancing act between caring for personal, family, and professional needs. Since you only have so many hours in a day one has to learn to make most out of it. I have tried to bring in more discipline in life, wake up early, have a positive attitude towards everything in life and try to engage everyone around me in a positive way. I have started appreciating nature a lot more than before and try to spend as much time as possible with family and our guinea pigs.
2. When you feel unfocused, what do you do?
I feel so connected to my work that I am always focused on it but when it does appear like I am losing focus I listen to some motivational videos at that time. Morning and evening prayers are part of my daily routine and these along with meditation keep me focused and energised. If nothing else works I think about how much difference I can make in the lives of my staff, the parents who trust me with their children and the children themselves and that works like boot strap!
3. What advice would you give a smart and ambitious recent college graduate? What advice should they ignore?
The advice I would give to college graduate is to be confident, focused and always trust yourself, love yourself, and be thankful for everything you have in life. Be thankful for your family, friends and education you got. Have very high goals and work hard to achieve them, stay focused. Do not worry about things you do not control or can’t change, rather focus on changing what you can as much as you can to achieve positive results. Constantly push yourself to keep getting better in whatever you do. Surround yourself with people who appreciate you, encourage you and bring happiness to you.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve something in life, you won’t know for sure until you really try.
4. What is one lifestyle trend that excites you? (could be something like Hot Yoga, Healthy Eating, Wearable Exercise Technology)
I am always excited to host and attend social events and meet accomplished people from different areas. I am always eager to learn from others experience and willing to educate and motivate others. I have encouraged many people to do different things in life and it is very fulfilling to see them succeed.
5. With or without naming names (whatever you’d prefer), who has been the biggest influence in your life and why?
The biggest influence in my life is my father who taught me to be independent, be fearless, always trust my self and have faith in god. He always let me explore what I wanted and gave me the confidence that he would be there if something would not go as expected. My husband, son and daughter also influence my life in a big way by constantly supporting and guiding me in my mission of bringing quality education and care to children around us.
6. What’s one of the biggest life lessons you’ve learned (can be personal or business related)
I have couple of big life lessons to share:
Do not expect anything from anyone – You keep doing what you think is best without having any expectations this helps you stay focused on the cause and avoids distraction from other’s actions
Keep emotions out of business – During the initial years I would go out of my way to help and accommodate many parents’ requests but over time I figured that it’s important to create boundaries and balance between parents and schools needs.
7. What do you think it is that makes you/someone successful?
I still feel that I have long way to go and have lot of work to do before I can claim to be successful. Success for me is being able to achieve personal as well as professional goals. If you are successful in one aspect and failing in the other, then the failing side will make the success meaningless. Family and Business are both very important to me and good family health as well as financial success are essential for anyone to enjoy the fruits of success.
Employees are the most important component for any business to succeed, care for your employees and they will help you grow. We did not let go any employee during the COVID-19 virus situation despite the low attendance of children in the school.
8. How do you stay motivated?
Love for Children and commitment towards my work are key source of my motivation. I personally feel responsible for each child at the school and build a team of teachers who share the same level of passion and responsibility towards childcare. When we have a new parent drop a child at the school first time, they are worried and concerned and the child does not want to stay at the school. Within a few weeks the same child refuses to leave the school when the parents come to take him home and is looking forward to coming back the next day while at home. The fact that I can deliver on the promise of providing good care and education to the children and let the parents focus on their work without having to worry about the children keeps me motivated. Despite the many challenges in the childcare industry, the happiness and Joy that we bring to each child keeps me motivated to keep going.
9. What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
I am very passionate about causes related to children, nature and animals and would like to be remembered as someone who made some positive impact in all these areas and to make the world a better place for generations to come. Children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow and we are doing our part by giving them a good education so that they become responsible citizens of the world.