From Corporate to Childcare: How Korrie Mae Wiszniak Transformed a Nonprofit with Culture & Grit

[0:00]  Our children are a reflection of the amount of effort and energy and time that we put into them. And I always think it's kind of disheartening, you know, when you got kids in the back seat and mom's on the phone or dad's on the phone and and kids are trying to tell them something about their day and they're too busy. Well, how can you be too busy for your own kids? Like, it's heartbreaking to me. And you know, we wonder why we've got, you know, childhood addiction and like porn addiction scares scares me. It's crazy because kids are on their phones and they turn to their phone as their educator and their mentor and what they do and that's where their heroes are. I think parents should have a goal to be

[0:48]  their own kids heroes, not you know the beast. Nothing wrong with that or the Kardashians. Nothing wrong with it. But it's so superficial. Yeah. And it's not genuine connection. Welcome back to another episode here on the hard and hustle podcast. I'm Era and we want to talk about if you could actually raise stronger. What if you could raise stronger, kinder, more emotionally grounded adults by simply showing up for our kids earlier and better? Today's guest has made that her life's mission. Welcome to the Heart and Hustle podcast. I'm your host, Era, and

[1:37]  I'm chopping it up with Corey, CEO of Kids Churchill Park, a woman who doesn't just talk about child care, she's actually out here raising whole humans. So, really want to talk in straight to the first question. When I spoke to you, you called your childhood childhood a Disney childhood. Can you kind of paint that picture for us? What made it feel like magic growing up? Because not everyone has that life. Not everyone gets to see that. That's true. I'm glad that you said Disney as in like the good Disney because there are Disneys where it's like the evil stepmom and I don't love those Disneys. But mine was two parent home. My mom stayed at home. I I think my brother and I have an older brother four years um older than I am and it was just our parents were kind.

[2:22]  Our parents were there. Our our parents showed us what love was. Um I always remember our parents being super fair. Um and our parents never thought that you know they were the bosses and that it was their way or no way. So our and obviously, you know, when kids are young, there's discipline, there's rules, there's um structure, but we just felt like we were so loved. And so all of the Disney stories that end as the happily ever after, that's what I feel that my childhood was. And we were very fortunate. I had a mom that stayed at home with us. And and I think there's a lot of benefit to to moms and dads being present and and being there for their kids. And you know, it's not always possible in today's world. I think we we live in a in a world where you need two

[3:10]  incomes or you may need two incomes that otherwise you're sacrificing or you but if but if people still you know at the end of the day you have dinner together the impact on children is huge. Yeah. I really huge. You know, you say that because growing up I didn't have dinner. Like we we ate dinner but not everyone around the table. Like my mom was in the living room watching her show. Me and my sister probably were the only two at the table. Um but we had, you know, brothers and sisters that just either were working or in their own rooms, you know.

[3:44]  Now, as a parent, we usually eat dinner all together. When it's time for dinner, I'm sitting next to my daughter, my my son's sitting in his high chair, you know. So, it it does truly make a difference. And your mom, she just sounds like a legend. We we we were able to get so much out of what your mom truly was. I mean, discipline, love, creativity. You said she wasn't just a stay-at-home mom that just, you know, did the basics. No, your mom was with Yeah, I see the face, Corey. What basic?

[4:11]  No, never. You're talking about coming home to cookies and desserts. But what was it about her leadership that that really stuck with you the most? I mean, I can only imagine you took so much out of growing up around something like this. Great leader, by the way. Thanks. She uh my mom was a hustler. She, you know, she always she always would say, you know, I didn't finish grade nine or she just completed grade nine, but she fell in love with my dad. And she didn't actually come from a from a a great family. Her dad passed away when she was really young. Um, and her mom was uh kind of a cold woman and she wasn't super kind and she wasn't super loving and and she didn't take her role as a mom very seriously and you know the role of a mom can't be underestimated and

[4:58]  neither can the role of a dad. Um, and and sometimes you know sometimes those intersect, sometimes they don't. um you know we still know statistically that that women do a lot more even if if two parents are working in that home but you know the where I am from sort of where we are the space that we're in zero to six years when you look at that oh my gosh and sorry I'm kind of going off topic because you asked about my mom and her leader you're good but um when you look at that space like your brain development the neuroscience of that age is phenomenal.

[5:37]  So your neurons are growing at a rate that is phenomenal and if you don't use those then your brain does something called pruning which you know stops those connections. So my mom was always doing things as a kid. I think the piece that she had said to us that was really cool and my dad was different because my dad came from the corporate world but my mom said there's nothing that you can't do. you may need some training. But my mom was a painter at the house. My mom was a carpenter. My mom was the craft person. My mom when we would come home from school and it was a winter. We lived in Edmonton at the time. So that was sort of my one stable place was Edmonton. We were there from grade six until grade 12. Every time, you know, every other year prior to that we were moving. But she would say she we'd come home, we'd have hot chocolate on the

[6:25]  stove, and then she would say, "Oh, I baked some cookies." And we say, "Oh, what cookies did you bake?" She's like, "Well, I baked three dozen chocolate chip cookies and I baked four dozen oatmeal raisin and I I baked six loaves of bread and I painted the upstairs bedroom." Like that that my mom never watched TV. So for us, we saw who like you just hustle. Whatever it is that you're doing, you do the best that you can and there were just no boundaries.

[6:53]  So for us, we thought, well, there's nothing that we can't do. Yeah, we may need more schooling. We may need education, but if it comes to something that's just a skill, you can learn a skill. So, you gained that hustle from your mom. You're still out here just getting and making a difference. Sleepless nights. You know what? No.

[7:11]  Sleepless nights are bad. I get a lot of sleep and sleep good important. And sleep is important. Is it now that you get a lot of sleep or was it always like that or is there times that you were had those sleepless nights? Nope. You know what? I always got good sleep. Good. Good. Okay. All right. Sure. There are times for sure if you know things are stressful. Human beings we go through stuff at work where yeah you have those nights where you wake up and you're like oh my gosh I should do this tomorrow and okay this is and then you realize oh no that's not really beneficial for me.

[7:39]  It's not beneficial not to get sleep. I'm a much better functioning individual. I'm happier when I sleep. Um I'm healthier when I sleep. Kids are healthier when they sleep. Everyone is healthier when they get good sleeps. Oh man, I love my sleep. I have a one-year-old and a four-year-old now. But so, you know, sleep is not the best right now, but uh yeah, I definitely want that love. My wife gets so mad cuz the kids will be up. She gets up and I'm still laying in bed. She's going to do this every day. I'm like, listen, it takes time for me to really get up, but when I'm up, I'm up. There's no naps.

[8:08]  I'm just always on 100. But yeah, I definitely do like that. When did it hit you? Like, this is what I'm meant to do. Was there a defining moment that really lit that fire that said, "Hey, I'm going to be a leader to this nonprofit. I want to make sure that I'm making an impact in this in this world. Was there that moment that you recall? You know, I've always I've come from the corporate world and for the for-profit sector. And when I think it was probably when I started thinking about it was when I got pregnant and I had my daughter and I left um it's a a communication company here, Shaw, and I left their uh corporate customer care.

[8:47]  And when I had her, I respected my mom so much for staying at home that I and I I didn't think there were boundaries. So, I know there's a lot of women who are like, "Oh, if you're out of the world, you know, if you're out of the work world for a few years, then I know it's lost." My mom stayed at home for the 12 years it took to raise my brother and I never worked great nine education and then one day woke up and said, "I think I'm going to get a job." And my dad and my brother and I, we looked around, oh, hey, good for you. What do you think you're going to do? like you've stayed at home raising kids. She goes, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe retail.

[9:22]  Retail sounds great." What are Oh, that Yeah, sure. So, she went to West Edmonton Mall. Again, we were in Edmonton. Went to West Edmonton Mall, saw uh it was the old days. It was 198583. Saw Help Wanted in a It was called Sylvia's at the time. High-end ladies wear. She walked in, got a job. Uh it was probably two months that she was there and the manager of the whole ranch store in Edmonton came into the the salon or to the store and uh my mom, you know, chatted with her, did what she always did, which is basically what we call clientele development now. And she was a great saleswoman, but it was building those relationships. And she sent that woman, her name was PJ, sent her a card about a week later and said, "Hoped you love the ballet. Your outfit was great. Hope you loved it. So hope

[10:08]  you're still loving it. Look forward to seeing you again. PJ came into the store a week later and said, "Do you do that for everyone?" My mom said, "Yeah, I do." She said, "Good. I want you. I want you to run the salon in Hulu." My mom said, "Oh, whoa. Well, I've got to give my two weeks notice because it wouldn't be fair to my current employer." But she said, "Sure." And she thrived. She did well. She was top top saleswoman, top sales manager. She just she took that with the same level of seriousness that she did raising kids. And I think when you focus on being great at something, you'll be great at it because you love it, you want to be good, you do your best and and you give it your all. So really it's, you know, about having integrity. And then she thought, you know, so that was three years she worked there. And then she thought because my

[10:55]  dad got a transfer to Toronto and he was executive vice president for Metife and she said, "Well, I guess that's the end of my career. Never she just never thought about it." And um the I think it was Gayen West at the time came and said to her, "What do you mean you're leaving us?" And she said, "Well, I'm moving to Toronto, so I have to leave this job."

[11:16]  And he's like, "I have a job for you at the Blur Street store. I want you to manage the entire third floor." So she's like, "Oh, whoa, okay." You know, the beauty of that too is also being humble. Like never stopping, always striving for more and never thinking, "Oh, I've made it. I'm the top. I'm the, you know, my parents, my parents treated and always do. Everybody the same. Everyone is the same. Doesn't matter what your job is. You know, I love to hear I love to hear about your mom and every time you say, you know, how she how she respond.

[11:48]  I I don't know. It's like I have to I have to see your mom. This is it almost makes me laugh because your mom is very nonchalant. Like, okay, that's what we're doing today. Like she was always up for a challenge, you know? Like the biggest challenge in life is being a parent. After that, she's like, "Anything is possible. I raised my kids, you know, I stayed home for 12 years.

[12:06]  That that was that is not an easy job." And me and you kind of spoke offline. Um, one of the hardest jobs in the world, right, is to be a stay-at-home mom. And and I've witnessed that firsthand with my wife. I didn't know what it looked like to be a stay at home mom. You know, you can only see it on TV and you may maybe you've kind of seen it at at a distance, but as you mentioned, you know, wife is is inside the house right now. uh you know, have my daughter doing work, making sure she's spending time with my son. There's two of them.

[12:32]  It's not easy. So, kudos to your mom because I get to see her firsthand. I I just know that she was an amazing person. And then for you to still speak so highly of her. Yeah. You can she was an amazing person, you know, and these stories I just love to truly uh to hear about your mom. And I really want to kind of talk about the heartbeat that Churchill Park has. like what's the real mission that you guys are carrying over there that that just continues to ignite you every single day. You know, I think values and culture are very important.

[13:02]  So that's another thing I learned from my childhood. You know, the values, our household values and and the culture that my parents created within our household extremely important. It's it's it's motivating for people. It's building confidence. And ultimately, that's what they were trying to do with little little people. uh you know kids it's really important for them to be their own person to explore things. So you know at Kids at Church Hill Park one of the things we look at that's really important first so we we created our mission we created our our vision and our values and because we're a not for-p profofit it means that we put all of the resources back into our child care centers and into our facilities. Um but really, you know, outside of that is we look at ourselves and and when I first came into the organization, which was

[13:50]  2017, um the not for-p profofit sector kind of has this weird quirk and it's changed a lot and some not for profofits still have it and some don't. But sort of like that, oh, we're so poor. Oh, no. Why are you so poor? And when I watch, no, we can't do that. Oh, we can't do a lot of outside programming. We can't bring people in. We can't bring in math science. we can't bring in um jumping jellies. We can't bring in music. And I'm like, oh gosh, why is that? That's so unfortunate. That's critical for childhood development. Well, because, you know, we're not for-p profofit. We don't have a lot of money. I'm like, that makes no sense to me. You are not for-p profofit, but you're a business.

[14:26]  So, you're a business that should be generating enough revenue that allows you to provide the services and the quality of that service that you want to provide. Secondly, you're a not for-profit. Oh my goodness. When I came from Shaw and I came from business coaching, we were always like, "Oh, if only we could be an forp profofit, we'd be able to get all that funding for grants." And I'm like, "Here you are as a non forprofit and you're complaining that you have no money, but you're the only group that's allowed to go out there in addition to the business that you run, the core business, go and fund raise for things. Who doesn't want to support children?" So, you know, you've got you've got these two avenues of generating revenue. So, but really, so outside of that that revenue generation generation piece, the other part was that not for profofits typically say, "Oh, we can't really pay our people that

[15:14]  much because we're not for profit." That is absolute crap. Those are so especially in child care. in child care, you know, as a leadership team, the leadership team, and this is very humbling for a leadership team, but I felt it was kind of necessary when I came in because a lot of people go through the ranks of you start as an educator, and then you work up to a program coordinator, then you're a program director, then you might work in the main office team. And there was a little bit of, you know, castle mentality around the the main office team. I'm like, "Oh, hold up. Main office team, we are the support team for the educators." So, our role is not to sit up there and go, "I am the big boss." No, no. Your role is to do whatever the program directors and the educators need you to do. They're the

[16:01]  they're the stars of the show. Why? Because they're the ones that are with the children every day. And we need them to be on. We need them to be happy. We need them to be emotionally stable. We need them to be loving and passionate about what they're doing. So, we need to support them in everything they do. And that also means making sure that they're making a wage that they walk away instead of saying, "They don't pay me enough to do this. I'm going to be on my phone half the time. They don't pay me enough." Is for them to say, "Wow, I'm really valued. I am paid well. I love what I do. Thank you for letting me do this.

[16:40]  I'm just going to go have fun with the kids. So that's what we really strive to have for our organization because that ultimately benefits kids. If you've got educators that are on, they're connected with parents, then you're giving kids that high quality that we're looking for in early childhood education. If the Heart and Hustle podcast has ever sparked any idea or made you think differently, do us a favor. Make sure you guys share this, post it on LinkedIn or even text that nonprofit friend that you just have. Whatever works. This is what keeps the conversation going and allows us to just grow this community together.

[17:19]  Seriously, we appreciate you. Cory, I actually want to kind of go back to something that I remember you talking about and you just mentioned child care. People just think it's babysitting, right? What are they missing about the emotional intelligence and love behind it? Everything. That's the problem. And I try to get away from even daycare. So I call it early learning and child care because it is caring for kids and that is an important component to it. Daycare makes it seem like you're just caring for kids during the day. Not really because what you're doing is you're trying to make sure that all of those fundamentals. So exactly like you said, emotional intelligence, socialization, kids are with with child care centers the majority of their days.

[18:03]  If a parent has gone from 7:30 to 5:30, wow. We can't just be educators. We can't just be babysitters. Um, we have to be educators. We have to be an extended family member because we need to care about those kids and love those kids just like their parents do. And we've made a commitment to families and to those children to give them the best days possible. So, gross motor, fine motor skills, um, creativity. So that also means that we've got to expose kids during the day to as many things as possible and as many experiences, but the most important being if you don't think I care about you, how are you going to thrive in that environment? So care and love most important number one.

[18:50]  I I remember also you talking about having a focus on supplementing uh family bonds, not really replacing them. Yes. What's the balance between the caregiver and parent? And how do you actually honor both? Great question. So, parents still are the number one um like the number one people in children's lives. That's that's one parents. And we don't want to replace parents and we shouldn't want to replace parents. And you know, even though I'm in child care, sometimes when I look at things, I think, oh gosh, you know, nothing replaces the love from parents. So, what we want to make sure that we always do is that we've got a lot of communication between families all the time. So, at drop off time, you're an educator, talk

[19:38]  to the family. You know, give a key signal like a thumbs up so there's a good day. If not, write a quick, you know, communication in our in our Hi mama app. Or if you can talk to the educators, she didn't get a lot of sleep today. You know, be kind or be sweet to her today or extra sweet, she had a rough night. Oh, she's potty training.

[19:57]  And that communication, you know, even especially when they're really young. So, infants, we really try to maintain whichever educators they've got to bond with, that is critical to maintain those. Um so if children some sometimes move up and there's sometimes you know a lot of movement that's why it's also really important especially in the infant stage is for children to have that same educator or educators the group of educators and bond with them but you know parents we just try to to make sure that we're always communicating with parents and and also educating parents. So we we have lunch and learns for parents. We have a newsletter where we're sending parents, you know, information on, you know, potty training, it's a tough time, teething, it's a tough time. You know, some of those behavioral challenges

[20:45]  where it's like, oh. So, we try to really also educate parents because, as you know, there is no handbook for parenting. You just kind of, you know, as you go, it's sort of like, oh, they're crying, you know. And I just saw this really neat thing. I was telling some of our educators about it that this woman uh she was a she's a doctor and she studied um infants all of her life and six different sounds with infants of what those sounds mean across all cultures. Um and it's super fascinating.

[21:18]  So if you're a mom, you know that you're trying either baby's hungry, baby needs to be changed, baby's tired, baby's got gas. Um, but imagine if you had those sounds and you knew what those sounds were and you instantly responded. Very cool. Cool stuff. There's so much cool stuff going on with early childhood education. I love it. I I remember when we also spoke the first time, you mentioned um that two parent homes aren't always what's best if love isn't there. And I'm pretty sure that we both seen that at some some capacity. Yeah. And I think it's it's truly, you know, like real talk. Can you kind of break that down?

[21:58]  What does that actually look like for people that may be in a situation? Yeah. So, this is just, you know, personal experiences and sort of what I've seen. So, by no means is it scientific data. Um, but I've seen a lot of of families where there's a mom fully engaged and she's a single mom and she came from a relationship that, you know, wasn't the best because we know as, you know, when people are on the brink of getting divorced or deciding, do they get divorced? You know, there's there's not a lot of respect in that household.

[22:30]  There's not necessarily a lot of love. Um, so children see everything. Children feel everything. You know, if we think that and we talk about as adults how, you know, 80% isn't what you say, it's but the way you say it. Your body language, your tone of voice, if you're looking at me or you're not. And you know, a lot of studies um on on families and connection showed two two adults, two two people in a relationship that make a lot of eye contact, that relationship is bound to last longer than one where there's very little contact. Um, so for children, they pick up on it. They know. So it's not I think it's sometimes a bit of a weakness when you know either a husband or a wife will say, "Well, we're we're staying together for the sake of the

[23:18]  kids. We do our own things." Well, what are you showing kids then about a loving relationship? That's not a loving relationship. That's two people who are buddies and maybe who aren't even buddies. At that point, you may not even really like each other. you're making it work because financially it's not beneficial to you or you're afraid to go out on your own or and I'm not saying that about all families and hey to each their own. I just don't think that's the best thing for kids. I don't think kids being raised in a family where they see parents being sort of ambivalent towards each other andor doing their own thing andor very selfish.

[23:52]  Is that what you want kids to see? Or do you want kids to see where parents love each other and they come home and they, you know, my dad came home every night and gave my mom a kiss and said, you know, thanks for all you've done for our kids and our family today. Every single night, my dad did that. Every single night, my mom walked to the door to greet him, to welcome him home, to say, "Thanks for what you did at work. Did you have a good day at work? Was it a tough day at work?" Um, so that we saw that every day. We saw that they respected each other. Did they argue? Of course they argued. Did they yell and scream? No. They sat down and they had conversations where my mom would say, "You know, I really need you to pick up your socks. You are driving me wacko because I'm a neat freak." And my dad would go, "Babe, babe, I'm sorry. I know. I just forget. I get busy." Um,

[24:41]  so, you know, as and and and it extended to the way they treated us. They never yelled and screamed at us. I I tended to be a crier when I did anything wrong because I felt badly for disappointing my parents because I knew what was right and what was wrong. Um but my parents would sit down and say, "Hey, you know what? That's not that's that's not very cool. Don't do that again." Um I love your mom. I love your mom. Every time you tell me these things, I just think it's it's amazing.

[25:06]  We we we both have these these um I would say mindsets on um as well on what it looks like to be a present parent, right? especially in today's world of distractions and hustles. Can you kind of give us your take on what that actually entails on being that present parent in today's society? Yeah, I can tell you one thing that it doesn't entail. It does it it doesn't entail you being on your phone. So, if you can I mean I know it's it's almost an addiction phones in in today's world, but we're teaching young people and it's bad for a number of reasons. It's bad for your attention span. It's bad for um EMF exposure. I don't know what what you know I happen to think EMF exposure is bad for kids. Blue light exposure and

[25:53]  lack of sleep. All those things are not beneficial to children. Um but being present doesn't always mean that you're speaking. I was bad for that because I I'm a talker. So kids would say, "Oh, this happened." I think, "Oh my gosh, how dare she say this to you." Okay, what you need to do is this. But really what being present for kids means is just being quiet sometimes and just being there. As a uh CEO of an organization, I made a commitment to my kids that I would always drive them to school and I would always pick them up.

[26:24]  Now, it means that I work earlier. I start my day at 5:30. Means that I end my day later. Sometimes I end my day at 8:30, but it but right now it's been beneficial because my kids are in high school and they're finishing grade 12. And so when they're studying, we're we're right beside each other. I'm doing work, they're studying.

[26:41]  Um, but being present means that like you've just given time and you know it may not be someone's love language spending time with someone but you know maybe it's gifts but gift giving isn't going to mean anything if you don't have a connection first. So getting building connections with kids and I used to say this to my husband because again my parents set this example. They did go out with their friends. They had people over, but it was sort of like family events that they would do. And every Friday and Saturday, like when we were when my husband and I were first together, we're a blended family, so we got together when our girls were three years old and our our son was uh three, he was seven. Um and he my husband would go, "Oh, let's go watch Supercross with my let's go watch

[27:28]  the UFC fights with my buddies." And I'm said, "Oh, well, no, like one night a week we're spending with our kids. This is family night. we're gonna go take the kids. And we genuinely did family things. I said to my husband, if you don't do things with your kids when they're young and you're not there for them when they're young, they you you've missed you've missed the time frame and it's so short. They're not going to be you're not going to have a great family life. You're not going to have kids that come home and bring their kids home to you. It's going to be an obligation.

[27:56]  It's not that they want to spend time with you. So, I wanted our kids to spend time with them because I genuinely wanted to spend time with them when they were young. I want them to spend time with with us when they're older. So we did we did kids stuff like I'm also not a drinker. So that part for me like going out drinking and socializing I don't know there's nothing in it for me and and my mom this like another example for my mom she was a non-drinker. My dad he drank red wine and he'd have a port or um koisier or something after dinner sometimes but not to excess. So, I have nothing against drinking, but my mom was like, "You know those people like when I'd go out to a dinner party and they'd say, "Jan, have a have a drink. Come on, relax." She's like, "My god, if I need to drink to be like more entertaining, to have a better

[28:45]  personality, that I really need to work on myself." I love that. I love it, too. Uh, you know, one thing you talk about just parenting, right? And it's I first-time parent um witness these things. The other day I was walking with my daughter and my phone was just ringing and I'm like like you mentioned we're just taking a a nice little walk maybe 5 10 minute walk I'm not answer my phone and be on my phone or just listen to her right and just be present and it's not be 80% present because maybe you are present on the phone and you're still having this conversation being 100% present like like you mentioned like looking at them having that conversation there's so many skills that are being taught at that age and I love how you just kind of broke it down because um I've seen also people that parent and just feel that I'm a financial parent like I'm providing for my parent you know and it's like I mean

[29:32]  not for my parent for my child and it's like I mean yes but as you mentioned what does that relationship look like after they only coming to you when they need something maybe when they you know when they're out of money but when do they do they come to you when they need something or they really have need a deep conversation and for me it's it's like I always told my my wife I want to make sure that our kids feel very comfortable for anything to come and speak to us but that doesn't happen If you're not building this, like you mentioned, at a very early age, they grow out and realize, well, this is the relationship that me and mom had. And to me, believe it or not, I still feel that this is the relationship that me and mom had when I was growing up. So, it's very normal that I speak to her once a month.

[30:12]  I got people that say I speak to my mom once a week. I mean, every day, you know, and it was an issue. I remember with my my wife when I we got married, I had to ask her, "Did you marry your mom?" Because you're like always talking to your mom like if I don't exist. But realizing I would want my daughter to have that relationship that she's talking to mom and she feels very comfortable and and that you know that all starts with how you raise and how we support our children and how present we are. So, I love that you actually bring that and and it's people should really kind of be not just on that sense of what it is looks like to parent presently, but also what it looks like to have two people actually working and and showing love and caring and not just there as you mentioned for the sakes of the kids because now you're not you're showing kids the wrong also visual, right? Exactly. It's a repeated cycle

[30:59]  per se. It's a repeated cycle and and we're not doing our kids any favors for sure. And I think, you know, we we we say kids are important and but but how are we showing that? How are we showing children are important? How do we support children in their development? How do we how do we like you said, how do we show up for kids? Because it's very easy for us to get really caught up in our own world. Oh, how does my hair look? Oh, I'm going shopping. Oh, I'm going out with the girls. Went out with my girlfriend. What about your kids, though? Like if you take your role as a parent just as serious as you take your role, let's say you're an athlete or you're um a leader in a company or you're or you're in school or whatever it is that you do that you were like, "Oh, I'm so committed to this." Why do we not or why do we think that we wouldn't have the same commitment to our

[31:46]  kids? It's a whole heck of a lot of work. My mom said she had two kids because she knows or she knew her energy level. So she said, "Oh, sure. I could have had four kids because I've got a lot of energy and she's one woman that does. But she said, "But I don't have the time to devote that it requires that raising children requires if I want to do it right." So, she wasn't about, you know, she said, "If I have four kids, and this is no slam for someone that has four kids, it's just everyone should know what they're capable of." And hey, if you know that you can be a great mom to one child, but that you you just don't have that capacity for two because you got a lot going on in your own world, great. Don't have two kids, have one. You know, if you think that, oh, my work is so important.

[32:33]  Okay. Well, you're that's going to be reflected in your kids and the way that your children grow up. So, our children are a reflection of the amount of effort and energy and time that we put into them. And I always think it's kind of disheartening, you know, when you got kids in the back seat and mom's on the phone or dad's on the phone and and kids are trying to tell them something about their day and they're too busy. Well, how can you be too busy for your own kids? Like, it's heartbreaking to me.

[33:03]  And, you know, we wonder why we've got, you know, childhood addiction and like porn addiction scares scares me. It's crazy because kids are on their phones and they turn to their phone as their educator and their mentor and what they do and that's where their heroes are. I think parents should have a goal to be their own kids heroes. Not, you know, the beast. Nothing wrong with those or the Kardashians. Nothing wrong with it, but it's so superficial. Yeah. And it's not genuine connection.

[33:38]  I like that. I I I 100% um kind of agree with everything that you're mentioning. And I want to kind of cuz we're on time here. I can't believe we've been talking already 32 minutes, but I want to also talk about we're in a space of innovation. You talk about technology. We're also in a space and I want to bring it back to the nonprofit where a lot of us are getting into the AI space and and some really deeper than others.

[34:00]  Some still not even some nonprofits, let's be honest, are very behind. And I and I've seen that myself and I've taken over a nonprofit myself. But what is your thoughts on AI? Like how is it really helping you guys as an organization? If so, are you guys even thinking about it? Is this something that you guys are looking towards? We are looking towards AI. Um and I think where AI so we've got a lot of you know childhood educators um in Canada. A lot of them are very culturally diverse.

[34:31]  Very culturally diverse. that we've got um people from the Philippines, we have people from India, we have people from Pakistan, we have people from Korea, we have people from China, we have people from Russia, from the Ukraine. We've got a very diverse group of people and I think where AI can be helpful is in the communications with parents. So we are we are exploring we've got we've got communication apps that sort of do that but you know how do you talk in if you want to talk in Korean because I also think there's a lot of benefits to um educators being able to teach children different languages. So, at this really young age, it's highly beneficial for children to learn to count in Spanish to

[35:20]  10, to say hello in Spanish, to say hello in Korean, to sing a song. Um, so that's super cool. But, you know, I hope it never replaces I hope AI because AI is just moving super fast. Um, so I think for communication pieces for us, but I would never want to see a robot, you know, raising kids and maybe because I've seen too many scary movies about it, you know, where they go, they want to be the mom and kill the family.

[35:49]  Um, but but you know, they but AI is but it can be important and I just I don't know all of the I don't know all the ways it can be impactful for, you know, not for profofits for sure. So not for profofits on the business end absolutely like even grant writing you know AI looking for grants searching for things all of those things getting um research for early childhood education at least in our sphere for not for profofits super beneficial I think it's still in its infancy in terms of the ability to communicate like a like a person I mean that sounds sort of weird I think it gets better every day and I I think you just got to you obviously fact check it so it doesn't replace you. But I think it makes life easier.

[36:34]  100% I I am one to say I use AI all the time. But it it is for those reasons. Creative ideas making your life a little easier when it comes to research. What it will take me to go and Google and look at this place and look at this place, look at this place trying to find that one answer. I can just chat and it'll kind of give me something within seconds. Or when you're stuck and you're like, how how do I get really creative?

[36:54]  You know, especially for fundraising in the nonprofit space. Um, I actually just heard one. He said he was doing Rocky Horror films um, out of the park with the families and I think I want to say it was like a live thing that they were doing and he's like they're going to make $100,000 off of this. And I'm like, "Wow, you know, thinking outside the box and sometimes we're going to the same old basic gallas and the dinners and the silent auctions, but you have you have something that to me is is a tool in your tool box, right? Like I like you mentioned. I don't want it to replace someone. I want it to make help someone become better at what they actually do.

[37:31]  And I think what's um what's kind of scary is that people are not adapting to it because there is a sense of fear. But I've seen AI um you know play very strong parts in helping even nonprofits when it comes to communication getting you know like because in reality when you're a nonprofit your goal is that you got to keep that communication flowing at all times you know with these organizations. How does that look like?

[37:52]  Um, so I think there's definitely some some opportunities there as you mentioned. It is growing fast and I can't wait. I'm almost kind of, as you mentioned, a little nervous of the things I hear. Now I'm going to Wendy's and there's a AI taking my order. That's pretty crazy if you ask me. One day I'm just going to pull up, they're going to do a face recognition and know it's me and pull up my order that way. Um, so that's a little scary, but it's also cool. just to see how um if you're a business owner, if you're in the nonprofit space, CEOs, that it really does help us become more more efficient and and like you said, creativity and I love that it gives you time back. So instead of reporting like if I'm doing reporting for the board, I know exactly what's going to go in that report. But if I use co-pilot, great. I love some of those integrations that I've seen for like social media posts like our Facebook post, Instagram posts, you know, getting parents involved, keeping

[38:40]  them involved, sharing things with them. That's a key one, right? Like all of those different integrations and with Canva and you're like creating like 10 posts in a matter of like a half an hour. Yeah, that kind of stuff is awesome when it comes to like when it comes to replacing humans. That's interesting. Um because because I think there is absolutely potential to replace humans. Right now I kind of dig my heels in. So, if I'm gonna go to Shoppers Drug Mart or I'm going to go to London Drugs and there's the tail or even like my Soies and there's the till without the human and I'm like unless you are giving me 10% off my order, there is no way I'm bringing this stuff through myself. I'm going to the human because I'm thinking businesses are making money. I know they had to purchase the the machinery and stuff, but I'm like no, if I'm going to bag

[39:27]  this up and ring this through myself and become my own teller, I want at least 10% off my order. Otherwise, and I want you to employ that person who's doing this and may need it, may need this. I'm the complete opposite. I don't know why. And I think it's only because I wanted to work at a grocery store when I was younger. So, I like to just scan my own things and bag it and see how fast I can get it done.

[39:48]  That's how I look at it, right? Time. It's like I stand in line sometimes. What bothers me when you go to a place and they're so dry and it just irks me. I'm like, I didn't ask you to be here. You know what I mean? like at least hello, how are you? So, that pisses me off sometimes. I'm like, you know what?

[40:06]  I'm going to go bag my own groceries just cuz I don't especially going to Walmart. Listen, nothing against Walmart, but they're usually not the friendliest person. If I go to Publix, I don't mind. They're really really nice at at Publix. I love Publix. Um, a really good plant question because we talked about plants the last time, so I'm gonna throw one plant question in there. What's one thing uh taking care of plants taught you about taking care of people?

[40:28]  You know, one interesting thing. So there's lots of things when we talk about nurturing and for sure but one interesting thing is I used to overwater plants. So you can overprotect children and and we still do this adults which is you don't allow them to build resilience and we have to have resilience to survive and to thrive. So you can care for kids and nurture them and love them 100%. But just like with people, let them make mistakes, let them fail. And that's where some of the greatest lessons and learnings come. And obviously, you know, it's not there's a difference between falling off the chair because it's like, oh, be careful falling off a chair versus falling off like a I don't know, a high slide and, you know, potentially breaking an arm.

[41:16]  But yeah, that would probably be my my one. I like that. That was a good one. Actually, you got really quick on your feet. That was actually really really good right there. Um, how could someone support the work that you guys are doing at Churchill Park, e even if they're not local? Uh, you know what we we're doing?

[41:31]  We're now mainly government funded. So, the federal government in in collaboration with our our uh provincial government, Alberta provincial government has funded most of our of our work. And so, and and we do have fundraising. But, you know, I think if someone wanted to to support the work that Kids at Churchill Park does is go and support your local Boys and Girls Club, go support your um food bank, your local food bank that says specifically that they support children. What we're trying to do at Kids at Churchill Park is to create children that are whole and happy so that we don't have broken adults. And a lot of that too, like even when it comes to human trafficking um and sexual abuse of children, like that is still rampant. And in our society when we say we really want to stand up

[42:19]  for children and they're so important, put your money where your mouth is and and look for children that or look for organizations that support children in that way. I love that. I love that. No, that 100% agree. Put your money where your mouth is. Absolutely. And when you think about a parent that may be listening right now, Corey, and they just feel like they're just barely holding it together, what is your advice to that parent? You know, what would you say to them? Just try to think that every single thing that you say and do to your child or with your child present makes a lasting impact on that child and impacts their their brain and neurological development. So, when you've had too much, there's something

[43:08]  that's really important, and women are particularly bad for it, is self-care. Self-care is not selfish. Self-care is important because it helps you be a better parent to your child. And if you're at the end of your rope, go have a bath. Like, provided that your child is of the age that they can take care of themselves. or be in the bathtub and get them to play with their toys with you while you like do something just to calm yourself down so that you are a better parent. Because children don't benefit when they've got parents that are screaming and yelling at them. Children don't benefit when mommy's crying or daddy's crying or daddy's punching walls or, you know, daddy's all upset or just try to live in a calm space if you can.

[43:50]  And I know it's not always easy and we, you know, we're challenged with, you know, jobs and work and food and financial struggles right now are crazy for people, but try to keep things simple. Like, yeah, if you're too busy, don't worry about taking your child to make sure that they're in soccer and dance and all this stuff. You know what?

[44:09]  Sit at home with them and watch a beautiful movie and talk about the movie afterwards. Go play out in your backyard. It doesn't have to be this frantic life that we lead that's good for kids. I was I was in some structured sports. So was my brother. But my parents I went with my parents on Sunday mornings and we went to antique auctions and we had so much fun and we met kids there and we played with them. You know I think a lot of parents are like oh no and they get very focused on okay kids have to be in dance and they need to do this and it's very competitive and they need to learn this and they need to pee and they need to potty. They need to tie other shoes. What 15year-old do you know that doesn't know how to tie their shoes? Zero. What child, you know, doesn't need to put their own coat on and and tinkle on the potty. They all know how to do it, but the time frame is different. So, just try to be like a

[44:56]  kind of calm down. Calm down and and just be just be there with your kids. I love this conversation and we can continue this conversation much longer, but we have to wrap it up here and I'm going to hit you with that blind question. Are you ready, Corey? Sure. All right. So, blind question that we have for you is if I strip you away everything, there is no child care.

[45:15]  There is no being an advocate. There is no speaking gig. Just starting fresh tomorrow. What's the random dream you would chase? The random dream that I would chase is to open a not forprofit that has elderly people with early learning and child care. The two of them benefiting each other because older people are lonely and young people want to talk to people and be with people who listen.

[45:45]  So, you know, old people, they get lonely, they kind of get disconnected. Yeah, I would I would do that. I'd start that. I like that. I can see I can see it working out, too. Yeah. Both both, you know, it's like the beginning and the end of life coming together and just communicating in diapers. I love it. Corey, for the next leader, what is your blind question for them? Uh blind question would be if you could go back to your 25year-old self, what is the one piece of advice that you would that you would give yourself? 25. Oh man, that's when you think you're grown, but you're not really grown.

[46:30]  Cortex has just kind of cemented itself, right? Yeah. I love it. I appreciate it, guys. Thank you so much. Corey, where could they find you more information about the organization? Website, social media. Could we give it to them before we go ahead and log off? At churchpark.ca. Love it. And are you on social media? Facebook, Instagram. We are on Facebook and Instagram. Yeah, same thing. Same thing. Love it. Guys, if you're still here, we thank you so much for watching this. Make sure you guys are sharing, subscribing. That's really where you guys can make the the difference as well and the impact. It's just sharing stories like this so people can listen to what the resources are out there.

[47:08]  There are so many leaders like Corey that are truly making an impact and wake up every single day to make this world a better place. And we thank you for your time today. Um we we don't take it for granted. It is definitely our pleasure to have you here on the Hard Haunted Podcast. Thank you guys for watching.

[47:21]  We'll catch you guys on the next