Celebrating National Nanny Recognition Week Featuring Kellie Geres

Danny:
National Nanny Recognition Week comes every year, the last week of September, Sunday to Saturday and nanny agency, or family, you can be celebrating the hard work nannies do. Today, we’re lucky enough to connect with Kelly Garris. With more than 36 years in the industry, Kelly was the 1997 International Nanny Association Nanny of the Year received the 2014 DEMA Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2020 International Nanny Association Meritus Service Award.

Kelly is a true champion of the nanny industry and she wears more hats than anyone in it. Really, if you don’t know her, you might not be in the nanny industry. She’s the co creator of Our Nanny Diary, but she’s stopping by today as the co chair for National Nanny Recognition Week. And it’s time for you to grab your pen and paper to write down some of the amazing ways you can get involved and celebrate the nannies around you.

Danny:
Hey Kellie, thank you so much for joining me.

Kellie:
Thanks for having me.

Danny:
Kellie, you have a magnificent History in the nanny industry. I feel like there’s not an association A part of it you haven’t touched. Could you just dip into your background a little bit?

Kellie:
Oh my goodness that’s a whole other entire podcast so yes it’s common knowledge.

I wear many hats in this industry  I have been started as a nanny And 35 years ago in 1989, I was 19 years old small town, Minnesota got on a plane and was a nanny in the suburbs of New York city and figured I would do it for a couple years and go back to school and just evolved myself and my career.

And, really, I think nannying found me. That’s beautiful that the. Being a nanny found you. So just we have to go back to, you can’t say something crazy like you were in small town Minnesota and then you got on a plane and you became a nanny in the suburbs of New York. Can you tell us just a little bit about how that unfolded?

Sure, so I Grew up Northern Minnesota town about 10, 000 people. So I’m small and I was going to a local college and it was a big adjustment, you go from a graduating class of 130 people to lecture halls of 500 people. So I struggled which was hard because I was a very good student.

I enjoyed school but I struggled. And so I was advised to take a break, and look at things and come back in a year. At the time I was doing a teen crisis hotline. I was volunteering doing peer to peer counseling. And one of the other volunteers was going to New York to be a nanny.

And we got to chatting and I’m like, that, That sounds like something I could do. She put me in touch with a recruiter. My mom and I drove and met the recruiter and she interviewed me, took all my information. And three weeks later, I was on a plane to Newark, New Jersey. And I was a nanny for my first family there on the outskirts of New York city in new Providence, New Jersey.

From there, I ended up in Atlanta. From there, I ended up back in the Philly suburbs, and then from there, I have been in the Washington, D.  C. metro area. That’s phenomenal. You also, you were International Nanny Association Nanny of the Year. You touched All of the pieces of it, you know that it’s interesting that you bring that particular thing up So in 1996, I moved from new jersey to Atlanta my Favorite aunt lived down there and so she and I were out one night and she Basically came out and just flat out asked me.

When are you going to get a real job? and It was really that moment that I was like, this is my job. I, nannying is my job. This is my career. Really set me on the trajectory to where I’m at now. So that was 1996 and 1997. I applied and my employer also nominated me for INA nanny of the year.

And then that started off. It was a very tumultuous year in the industry in 1997, which then led to 1998, which was the creation of NNRW. And when did you get involved with National Nanny Recognition Week? I have, I was involved from the very beginning. How NNRW came about was in 1997, there was an au pair in Boston.

Her name was Louise Woodward. And she was put on trial for murder for eight month old baby boy in her care died. And it was just a media sensation. She, was put on trial. The whole idea of shaken baby syndrome came to the forefront. So when I became INA nanny of the year this was going on.

And so the media, as we know, loves to focus on all the negative, the scandal and such. When this trial was going on, she was an au pair. It was through an au pair  program, but the media and the public were referring to her as a nanny. And so there was a lot. Of education that had to happen to the media and the public that this is not a nanny, that the nanny industry is alive and thriving and the au pair program is an entirely different aspect.

It’s, there’s regulations it’s government, it’s, there, there’s a lot that goes into it. And so it was educating the media and the public that there is a difference between nannies. And au pairs, the Louise Woodward, she was found guilty, it went on later and I think she was, it was time served, but it brought to light the au pair industry.

It brought to light the nanny industry, my role as nanny of the year was speaking to press and a lot of education, as I said. And so in 1998, a group of industry. Powerhouses Judy merlin the late Judy Merlin. She had an agency in Atlanta A woman by the name of Mary Clerman.

She did recruiting Can’t recall if she had an agency, but she had essentially the first nanny magazine She had a nanny newsletter. It was called nanny news. It was printed. You got it in the mail And it had classified ads in it just news and such so the two of them got together You In addition to just dedicated nannies and agency owners and businesses to create A movement create this event that would bring it back and focus on the positive, here we’re 26 years now, is that, could they see that?

I don’t know. I would hope so. I would love to see it continue on and on. But it began with literally. I was standing at a fax machine, paper faxing, putting in phone numbers and paper faxing to media centers and other agencies and organizations and just letting them know about this event and ways that they could get involved.

We had folders of information of how, things that you can do. In Atlanta, we had a big outdoor kind of fair in Centennial Park. There were nannies that came to Washington D. C. and marched on the Capitol. Thankfully it has stuck around.

Danny:
Like to me, it’s like a federal holiday.

I know that sounds crazy, but like I hear about it like I know I’m in the industry. But it’s pervasive like that. They created that?

Kellie:
Yeah.

Danny:
Wow. Yep. Kellie’s just nodding like casually everyone.

Kellie:
Yes, they did. Yeah. So it’s, they, yes, they, so they created NNRW. It’s evolved. NNRW, belongs to the industry.

It belongs to the nanny the nanny industry. What Angela and I do is basically, maintain the integrity of it. We have the website, the email, the official, stamp of approval type of thing. And then a few  years ago we were approached, I want to say it was by Louise in Australia.

And but hosting something. And so then it’s become international nanny recognition week in that we have, other countries, other communities celebrating along with us. Like agencies must be a piece of this pie and how can they continue this treasure. A week, national treasure all aspects of the industry, nannies play a vital role.

Agencies play a vital role, parents, the businesses everyone plays a vital role and for agencies, it’s just, Making getting the message out there. That this exists and what it is and why people need to know about it and why they need to do something. If that’s, sending an email to their client list, if it’s sending an email to their nanny list posting on social media making, making reels and tick talks and such, and letting your audience know that, this exists.

We can only grow as long as, more people are finding out about this. Again, we started with, phone cards and having to, punch in phone numbers and phone cards and now, social media. Really has been a godsend to this event in that it, it enables us to reach an audience that.

We wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. For any agency owner listening, you had mentioned the, rubber stamp of approval. How does this work? Do I have to call you to what do I do, really? No. How does this really work? No, you don’t have to call us. We do have some who will say, Hey I’m having this event. We’ll be like, great. Thanks for letting us know. We would love to know about your event because we’ll share  it on social media for others to find out about. We just redid our website last week. And so now we’re including events on our website in a carousel kind of thing. So if you have a graphic and want us, want Your event listed on there.

We’re happy to share it. No, you don’t have to ask permission to host an event. But we’d love to know about it just so we can share about it. And so we can, yay, Hey, we haven’t had this before in this area, we, thanks for, supporting it things that agencies can do for NNRW probably the most important thing is email their families, let them know about this event, let them know why it’s important and let them know what the family can do.

One of the biggest misconceptions about NNRW is that there has to be some type Or monetary value attached to appreciation. And that’s not it at all. The simple act of saying, thank you. We appreciate you. We recognize what you’re doing, for families. Have a bouquet of flowers and the kids make a nice card and write a nice message in it and have that waiting for her when she comes into work, it’s as simple as that for agencies host an event, maybe just pick a night or a weekend NNRW is always the last full week of September, Sunday to Saturday.

And pick a day, a night, a weekend afternoon, say, Hey, we’re going to be at Olive Garden, just, whatever. And or, local restaurant or pizza place or something. Hey, we’re going to be here from one to four. Come in, say hi, we’d love to see you, grab a slice of pizza, come grab a cupcake, something.

We want to celebrate you during NNRW, just put it like that. Order some from Sherry at the Nanny Cards. She has specific cards to NNRW. And handwrite a note to your nannies. If you have, a team, divvy up the cards, handwrite a note to them and put, drop it in the mail or order a bunch of stickers from Kelsey at nanny years and, pop a sticker in there.

Everybody’s got those Stanley’s and phones and laptops, and that also supports other nannies and nanny businesses. So NNRW is a big proponent of supporting others who support NNRW. And on our website, you’ll see a lot of nanny businesses and organizations.

Danny:
Is there one that you can think of that stands out as Oh, that was a really great event or like brilliant idea or anything like that?

Kellie:
Oh my goodness. There’s been a few communities Tara Lindsay in Michigan was the first to do it. And then I believe LA did it. And then Rachel Lubin in Houston did it. I believe where they contacted their state and had a day of the week declared like nanny, like an official day in the state as nanny appreciation day during NNRW.

So they got a proclamation from. I don’t know who it’d be, the governor, the mayor, whichever entity that, they were working with at the time, they had a day declared in their community specific to NNRW.

Danny:
That’s, that’s amazing. There’s so much going on that I think agencies might be missing of how they can support nannies.

How can they get more involved, or like in the industry, like donating to like Nannypalooza or things like that, or like to NNRW, is that a possibility?

Kellie:
To donate to NNRW?

Danny:
Yeah.

Kellie:
Sure. It’s a possibility. And I’d have to give some thoughts to that, but it’s really, just, it would be just supporting the efforts.

And I think, for me personally, I would say I would rather see them put that money back into their nannies spotlight a nanny a month and do a gift, give them a gift card to, go out to dinner with a friend or something. And or, buy them, their next Starbucks or something.

Danny:
I really like that because part of that was touching on the spirit of national nanny recognition week throughout the entire year. If I was putting on my business cap, I would also say sharing, a spotlighting a nanny every week. That’s a very savvy way to not just get like a a social media post out there or an email out there, but it’s also really shows that you have a connection with your nannies.

And I think that’s what a lot of families are looking for when they’re looking for a nanny agency. Also just like having that actual connection with nannies when you can prove it with having that long list of social media posts Sharing all the amazing resources that are out there for nannies to continue develop.

Kellie:
It’s great And that’s just it there, there are so many Call them nannypreneurs, nanny run nanny created businesses and there are so many of them out there from stickers to apparel to like I said the greeting cards I have our nanny diary, which is the printables and very good people should look into that all of the look into nanny.

Danny:
I think if you #nannypreneur, you’re going to find a lot of these things. Our nanny diaries is Very good. It’s very quality. I know that some agencies use it and hand them out like it’s very quality very helpful. You need that insight of a nanny to have something like this. Everyone should just check it out thank you.

Kellie:
Thank you for that. And but yeah, it’s also You can go on Amazon and buy something and such, but you are, when you support the nannies and the nanny businesses, you’re supporting somebody’s, dream you’re supporting another nanny who recognizes, Hey, there’s something lacking in our industry, and we can turn to Kelsey at nanny years and she has amazing stickers. They’re so fun. And, from tamer of tiny  humans. To hashtag nanny life. And the, it’s just endless. And she saw something and she’s Hey, I’m going to create this. And so she has, these stickers and you have Sherry at nanny cards who who does greeting cards and for NNRW and for the holidays, she has one for the nannyversary.

And so just things like that, but yeah, you could go to Hallmark and buy, some cards in bulk, but why not support another nanny who has this business in something very specific? We have nanny magazine, which is, a digital, magazine. For this industry, Glenda Probst has it’s called G’s heartworks and she makes these amazing, I can’t even, you just have to go, but it’s like she takes little trinkets and little mosaic things and creates this beautiful artwork out of it.

And customizes it to a nanny or a family or something. It’s just, it’s amazing what she does. And I know that I’m forgetting many of them, but we have. We have  several of them on the NNRW website, but and these aren’t just for NNRW. Like you said, these are always out there. So Kelly, thank you so much for joining us.

Danny:
When an agency wants to reach out to learn more about NNRW, they go to reach you?

Kellie:
Sure. So our website is www. nnrw.org and our email is nnrw98, the year it was created, at gmail. com and they can email us. We’re happy to communicate. We’ll jump on a call if you want to brainstorm. I love that idea. Hey, what can I do in my area? Here’s my budget. What do you think? If you have an event you can email us the information and we can get that on our website. I think the biggest thing is just spread the word and, I liked what you said. This isn’t, yes, there’s a set date and time to NNRW. But that doesn’t mean that, the thanks and the appreciation and all that have to end.

It should be ongoing and there are many ways that agencies can do things in their community to give back and connect with their nannies and families.

Danny:
Kellie, so much for joining us. You’re the best.

Kellie:
Thanks for having me.