Shearese has faced hardships, including divorce, depression and homelessness. Now she’s using her life experience to lift other parents up. Her nonprofit, Mothers of Joy, Institute for Parenting and Family Wellness, provides resources and a safe space for Flint, Michigan, families. Shearese sharpens their parenting skills by teaching them mindfulness routines, helping them understand early childhood trauma and passing on best practices for raising healthy children. She also guides families in exploring careers, building friendships and handling bills at home. These life skills, Shearese knows, can help them be good parents and avoid some of the heartaches she’s gone through.
“I came from a background where there was trouble from the beginning,” Shearese recalls. “My mother and father were in their teens when they had me, and they argued a lot. There wasn’t much money when my dad left, and my mom would become frantic when the bills were due. Fortunately, we went to live with my grandmother, and she taught me to be strong and strive to succeed in life.”
Shearese went on to run a home day care for 15 years, then worked as a teacher’s aide at a public preschool while earning her CDA®. And the credential helped her rise when she went to work at another school. “I was there for about six months,” Shearese recalls, “when the director realized I had a special talent for working with families. So, she created a position for me as a family engagement specialist, a role in which I helped parents in some of the same ways I do now. And I went on to sharpen my skills by earning an associate degree in early childhood and a certification as a trained mentor.”
These qualifications allowed her to do even more to serve the community in Flint. She took part in a study on the cognitive development of children and families who were affected by lead and environmental trauma. She became the family coordinator for Cummings Great Expectations early childhood program with the University of Michigan and Flint public schools. She gained certification as a master trainer in adverse childhood experiences for the Michigan ACE Initiative, which fosters resilience among children who’ve been through trauma. In addition, she held workshops, provided group coaching and helped build family bonds through her Hearts at Home, Homemakers by Choice, Ministry of Motherhood and Love & Logic programs. “I come from the same background as many of the families I’ve served,” she says. “I know where they’re coming from, so they feel a sense of hope when they look at me.”
And Flint families needed hope during the COVID pandemic as they faced undue stress in their lives, including loss of jobs, homelessness and isolation. Hearing their stories led Shearese to apply for a grant in 2020, so she could open Mothers of Joy. Her group became a nonprofit in 2022, and early this year Mothers of Joy acquired its own space. Now Shearese serves about 100 parents in a cozy room with calming grey walls and chairs filled with comfy animal blankets. The families come each week for classes like the one she recently taught on anger management, something Shearese’s own parents could have used when she was a child.
Shearese helps families avoid the toxic environment she endured at home by making them think about why they get angry and how they respond. “Then we watch some videos about anger and talk about what happens to your body when you get angry,” Shearese explains. “I also give them calming exercises to help focus on what they’re feeling when they get angry and want to calm down. When they return the next week, they tell me what they’ve done to shut off their anger and stop yelling at their kids.”
There are some simple techniques, as Shearese points out. “One is taking deep breaths, feeling your chest and telling yourself I want to feel better. Hugs can also help, but some parents don’t have anyone to hug them. So, I tell the parents to take a blanket, wrap it around their arms and pull the ends tight. It’s a way to give yourself a kind of hug.”
Parents get this and other calming techniques in Positive Parenting 2.1, a program in which Shearese focuses on childhood trauma. Children exposed to trauma, as she knows, can be a challenge for parents. Parenting kids with behavior issues can, in turn, bring out the worst in parents. So, the program teaches parents how to develop and practice ways to stay calm, remain consistent, and be proactive instead of reactive when responding to their children’s behavior. “We start with the parents,” Shearese says, “because the way they act can make a lifelong impact on the children. If we tell parents how to deal with their traumas, then parents can avoid passing on toxic feelings to their children.”
It’s easier for parents to cope if they can find small moments of joy in daily life. So Shearese shows them how to make tasty meals at low cost, get ready for holidays and exercise when they’re feeling down. In addition, she shows them how to connect with other organizations to fill gaps in what they need.
The support and guidance that Shearese provides helped one young mom take big steps in her life, as Shearese recalls. “When I met the mom, she was living with her mother, couldn’t find a job and was afraid to drive. The young woman’s mother had to do everything for her. Then, one day, the mom walked into my office dangling a set of keys. She had gotten her license, bought a car, found a job and moved into her own place. I was proud of her,” Shearese says.
And the young mom’s progress had a personal meaning for Shearese. She, too, has faced challenges during her life. She overcame them, thanks to her sense of persistence and her grandmom’s support. Now she wants to give families hope and a safe place to surmount their problems, too. “I want to help parents have strong values, believe in themselves and want more for their children than they had,” she says. Seeing parents take steps in the right direction gives Shearese joy.
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Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
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