In this episode, Jade Ingleby of Choklits Child Care shares her transformative approach to leadership in early childhood education, proving that everyone has the potential to lead regardless of their title or traditional role.

Our Expert Jade Ingleby

Jade Ingleby is the Co-owner of Choklits, a three-service early childhood education provider with 120 employees. With a background in banking and auditing, Jade made a career pivot nine years ago after being inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s message about taking responsibility for your own happiness. Since then, she has built Choklits into a thriving organization that operates on five core pillars: growth, community, communication, reflection, and collaboration. Jade is passionate about empowering staff at all levels to become leaders and creating non-traditional career pathways within the early childhood sector.

About Choklits Child Care

Choklits operates three early childhood education services, starting with their flagship center in Ringwood located next to the Cadbury chocolate factory (hence the memorable name). The organization has grown from a rundown 52-place center with 12 employees to a thriving network of 120 staff members. Under Jade’s leadership, Choklits has developed innovative programs including Plant to Plate gardening initiatives, Early Languages (Auslan) programs, messy play therapy, and sports programs called “Activate.” The organization prioritizes community connection and believes in making every person’s life better – whether they’re staff, children, families, or community members.

In this episode, we cover:

– Empowering staff and leadership philosophy
– Problem-solving and team empowerment
– Creating opportunities and retention strategies
– Building community culture

A sneak peek inside the episode:

“You need to train your people so well that they can leave, but you need to build the culture that they want to stay.”

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