Surviving COVID-19 RESOURCE DIRECTORY
TRUSTING YOUR CHILDREN IN THE HANDS OF CREATING CHARACTERS PRESCHOOL ACADEMY by Contributing Writer, Cheryl D. Howard
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here are very few people or institutions in whom or that we would fully entrust with our children. This is especially true during this time of the pandemic. Jozalynne ByrdShakur is one with whom I would trust with my children. Many other families would agree who have children enrolled at Creating Characters Preschool Academy located in Natomas where Byrd-Shakur is the Founder and Executive Director. During a national pandemic, those who still work and need childcare must be able to find a place for their young children to be. It is especially hard during this time. In 2012 ByrdShakur started a daycare in her home. She has always had a love and affinity for children. She personally finds them witty, funny, and entertaining. As I asked her to tell me who she was, Byrd-Shakur stated: “I am a child of God and can humbly and proudly give him thanks for designing me to be warm hearted, authentic and goal driven woman who always tries to find the light in every person and circumstance,” she answered. After high school she attended higher education and earned a degree in early childhood education. She then began to work for Fortune 500 companies. While only making $10.00 an hour for million-dollar companies she came to realize she was helping them to build their legacies. So, Byrd-Shakur knew it was time to start her own business. She recalls a very disheartening and discouraging time when her child was ill, and her boss was very unsympathetic and attempted to force her to choose her job over her son. Around the same time, she recalls one of her family members called her and was WHILE distraught about childcare woes. “Those two incidents kind of pushed me into an uncomfortable space and being real with myself in saying that you need to pursue your own dreams (she thought). I decided to build my own legacy for my two boys (Jah’Morris, 13 and Jah’Sani 6),” she said.
Jozalynne Shakur-Byrd
Business Owner of Creating Characters Preschool Academy
According to the school’s mission statement on its website, Creating Characters is, “A place to embrace your true character! With our holistic early childhood education philosophy, we understand that all children have ONLY MAKING unique personalities, needs and interests that will be $10.00 AN HOUR met in many different ways and will develop at their FOR MILLION-DOLLAR own pace.”
COMPANIES SHE CAME TO REALIZE SHE WAS HELPING THEM TO BUILD THEIR LEGACIES. SO, BYRDSHAKUR KNEW IT WAS TIME TO START HER OWN BUSINESS.
Byrd-Shakur ran her in-home daycare for approximately 8 1/2 years. In 2020, with the loving support of her husband, Asani Shakur and her parents, she brought the dream | 3 2 | T H E HU B MA G A Z I N E
of expanding her preschool to a commercial building to fruition. In the early part of 2020 during the onset of the pandemic, ByrdShakur was negotiating for the commercial building. With much prayer and drive she signed a lease in August of 2020 and she recently opened a 3400 square foot brand new preschool for Creating Characters Academy on January 4th, 2021!
Byrd-Shakur is a true visionary. She sees beyond just a preschool for children. “We thrive to eventually become a community center for all of our enrolled families. A place where workshops are held to help our families grow in multiple areas such as financial literacy, homeownership, parenting guidance, health and nutrition, effective communication, etc.”, she said.
Byrd-Shakur gave it much thought when she came up with the name of the school. She believes with a whole heart S PRI NG 2 0 2 1
