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• 0:00:08 Kris Murray: Welcome to Child Care Rockstar Radio. I am your host, Kris Murray. Child care leaders around the globe are breaking through challenges, leading the way in innovation, testing new best practices, and impacting children and families in a much more powerful and positive way than ever before. Each week, join me for interviews with early childhood leaders and experts that will leave you inspired to become the next childcare rock star.

   

• 0:00:34 Kris Murray: Now, let’s go. This is episode 206 of Child Care Rockstar Radio featuring Regina Miller. Folks, this is a not to be missed episode and I am talking about a super energetic, inspirational, motivational and optimistic woman that many of you know. Ms. Regina Miller is a force to be reckoned with and she brings the joy on this episode of this podcast. I can’t say enough about Regina, her energy, her spirit, her drive, and how much impact she’s made on the field of early learning and early childhood.

   

• 0:01:19 Kris Murray: It’s beyond what many of us can even imagine with regard to her impact as an authority, a trainer, a speaker, and a powerhouse leader with Trailblazers Academy, the school that she founded in the Wichita area. And you’re going to meet Regina today and just be prepared to be wowed and to be charmed and also to learn a ton. This episode is called Leadership Lessons in Childcare because that’s the name of Regina’s book, Leadership Lessons.

   

• 0:01:56 Kris Murray: And she dives into all of it with real talk. And not only that, but you’re going to get some marriage and dating advice as well on this podcast. So stay tuned and we’ll meet Regina here in a moment. And I want to let you know that right now, here In July of 2025, we are quickly counting down and being very excited about the Child Care Success Summit in Atlanta this fall. It’s in mid October and our Featured keynote is Mr. Ron Clark. So talking about all things leadership in education, one of the most well known and highest followed leaders that we have in our country is Mr. Ron Clark. And there’s going to be no better example of how to take your leadership game to the next level than you will find at the Child Care Success Summit this fall in Atlanta. So if you still have not gotten your tickets, you are definitely not going to want to miss this. And we have a bunch of other amazing speakers as well. We’re going to bring some of those folks to the podcast coming up in the next couple months and go to childcare success summit.com

   

• 0:03:11 Kris Murray: and get your tickets now while they last. We are selling those tickets like hotcakes and we will sell out. I have no doubt that usually by the later part of August, early September, we are sold out in the ballroom. So childcare success summit.com do not delay what you’re also going to hear on this podcast that Regina talks about. And Regina has advice for you. If you’re a new manager or director in the child care space, or if you’re seasoned and maybe you need a little refresh, a little new swing in your step, some new energy that you can bring to your game. If you’ve been around for the last 10, 20, 30 years in childcare and many of you have in the director seat, it can get up to a place where you may be feeling burnt out. And this podcast is exactly what you need.

   

• 0:04:09 Kris Murray: If I’m speaking to you right now, Regina talks about how owners can re engage with their teams and how important it is to be an engaged owner if you own a childcare business, to not be absentee and to bring energy to your team because it all starts at the top. And one thing that I wanted to mention regarding that and then connecting back to the Child Care Success Summit Conference is that the strategy to reignite your teams and re engage yourself as well as your directors and admin is to bring your team with you to the summit.

   

• 0:04:49 Kris Murray: And there’s no better strategy I know of to get on the same page with you and your leadership team. So get those tickets again, childcaresuccesssummit.com and gift a ticket to your directors and watch them get re inspired and reignited just alongside you as an owner. Don’t just send them, but calm yourself as well together and you will be amazed at how that can change the vibe at your preschool or childcare center and set you up for success in 20, 26 and beyond.

   

• 0:05:25 Kris Murray: Let’s get to it, folks. Enough of me yapping. Regina Miller is right here on tap. I cannot wait for you to meet her. And let’s go. Childcare Rockstar Radio. Enjoy it. Welcome, folks. I’m very excited to introduce you to my guest today, Regina Miller. How are you?

   

• 0:05:51 Regina Miller: I’m awesome. I’m having a great day.

   

• 0:05:54 Kris Murray: Fantastic. Welcome to the podcast. I’m so thrilled that you’re here. Where are you sitting right now? Geographically, where are you located?

   

• 0:06:03 Regina Miller: Wichita, Kansas. I’m in Kansas.

   

• 0:06:05 Kris Murray: Okay. And are you at your. Your center?

   

• 0:06:09 Regina Miller: I’m at my center, but I have a separate office off that’s for my consulting and so I’m sitting in the consulting office.

   

• 0:06:17 Kris Murray: Okay, cool. The name of your program is Trailblazers Academy, but you’re known for a lot more than that because you are an industry wide speaker, trainer and author. And I’m very excited to have you. You have spoken to our academy. I think it was last summer or two summers ago. How long has it been last summer?

   

• 0:06:47 Regina Miller: Last summer. Just one year ago.

   

• 0:06:49 Kris Murray: Okay. Well, this is right on time. It’s about time I had you here on the podcast. So thanks, thanks again and welcome to Child Care Rockstar Radio. Tell us a little bit about you and how you serve the early childhood industry.

   

• 0:07:05 Regina Miller: Absolutely. Hello everyone. My name is Regina R. Miller is important because I use it in my consulting business. I’m known as R. Miller Consulting. I’ve been in childcare for 47 years. I absolutely adore everything about early childhood and early literacy and learning. And so therefore that skill I took over into my consultation consulting company to ensure that the younger generation, as I get older and gracefully older, I, I want it to be passed on.

   

• 0:07:38 Regina Miller: So I have 35 years of leadership. I’ve owned my own businesses for the last 16 years. We downsize from a school of 200 to a small school of 40. It’s been a blessing. My daughter Helen, who passed away, this was her dream. Helen’s here on the wall there behind me. It was her dream to have a smaller setting so we could focus on literacy and have a lending library and just serve the community. And that’s what Trailblazers is all about.

   

• 0:08:07 Regina Miller: Trailblazers recently won in 2025. Nope, I’m wrong. 2024, we won the citywide best childcare center in Wichita. We’re very proud of that award. Not because it’s an award that says that we’re better than the rest. It’s an award that says we’re doing our part. And I believe that all of us have a part. So there’s no better school, bigger school, best school. There’s all of us and then there’s all of these children that need us.

   

• 0:08:38 Kris Murray: I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. So you’ve got four decades plus in this amazing industry which is just such an amazing breadth and wealth of experience. Regina. And tell us a little bit about your. Your home life. Sure. What you know. Are you married? Are. Yeah, go ahead.

   

• 0:09:00 Regina Miller: Yes. At home. I will be celebrating my 40th wedding anniversary in February. I’m married to the love of my life, Jesse. We treat each other like the day we met each other because we try and keep our love alive. Love doesn’t last if you don’t nurture it. So we made a commitment about 20 years ago, date nights. And so if you’re my social media friend. Every Friday night, you’re going to see me get excited and say it’s date night. And it’s not always something elaborate. It could just be a movie and dinner. It could be a jazz.

   

• 0:09:31 Regina Miller: A live jazz concert, or us just sitting on the deck enjoying each other. But we make a special time to be committed to one another. And especially after we lost our daughter in 2022 unexpectedly at the tender age of 36, we really leaned in more of being each other’s support because we learned through grief counseling that people who lose their children usually often get divorced. And we were like, that’s not happening to us.

   

• 0:09:56 Regina Miller: We also have a son who’s very strong. His name is Jesse also, and he’s 37 now. I’m getting old. I can remember their ages. Jesse’s 37, and he has a little girl that was born on Christmas Day in 2021. And then Helen passed three weeks ago. So she’s the love of my life. Her name is Reagan, and she brings the joy. So you’ll hear me talk about bringing the joy. God knew that I needed something to hold on to, and he kind of sent me Helen 2.0

   

• 0:10:24 Regina Miller: because Reagan mirrors her personality and she just. She keeps me going and keeps me wanting to make very much a dent in early childhood education. I hail from Norfolk, Virginia, so I’m originally from Virginia, but my husband was in the military, so we traveled a lot. The reason why my book has the picture of the Golden Gate Bridge is because we spent six years in California when our kids were little and we used to take them to the Golden Gate Bridge Park.

   

• 0:10:53 Regina Miller: I used to look over that big old bridge and say, one day I’m going to own my own child care center. And I cast my wish into that seed. So that’s why.

   

• 0:11:02 Kris Murray: That’s it.

   

• 0:11:04 Regina Miller: Yeah, that is.

   

• 0:11:05 Kris Murray: There’s so much there to be inspired by. My goodness. I am also a huge fan of San Francisco and Golden Gate Park. Have been there several times. So thanks for sharing that. I love that inspiration. Actually, I was just there about a month ago with my boyfriend, my boo.

   

• 0:11:24 Regina Miller: Yes. Yes.

   

• 0:11:26 Kris Murray: And I love date night. Date night with Jesse and Regina. This is good stuff. This is juicy. I love it.

   

• 0:11:33 Regina Miller: I have friends that send me a text and say, didn’t see anything posted about date night. And I’ll have to say, well, I’m out of town, or Jesse’s out of town, but we’ll make it up on Saturday night.

   

• 0:11:43 Kris Murray: But great.

   

• 0:11:45 Regina Miller: Put in that time. That’s awesome.

   

• 0:11:47 Kris Murray: Do you Think you’ll ever retire, Regina? Are you just going to keep going?

   

• 0:11:50 Regina Miller: I have such word in my life, Chris. I was just asked that question by my financial planner and he was asking me, asking me, what are we doing here? You know, you, you, you know, let’s look at your portfolio. I’m not retiring. And Jesse started laughing and he goes, you couldn’t tire Regina down and not let her talk or do a presentation. She’s gonna do that till something happens that she just can’t do it anymore.

   

• 0:12:18 Regina Miller: So no, the word retirement is not about vocabulary. I do plan to, I do purposely focus on self care and backing back a little bit and relaxing. So I’m taking more trips for myself doing those type of things. But no, retirement, it’s not, it’s, it’s not a financial thing, it’s a heart thing.

   

• 0:12:38 Kris Murray: Yes.

   

• 0:12:39 Regina Miller: To keep going. Yeah.

   

• 0:12:40 Kris Murray: Anybody that has seen you speak knows how much passion and joy and energy you bring to the stage because you want to pour into the hearts and, and souls and minds of these amazing educators that we have and these leaders that we have in the early childhood space. So highly recommend. If you guys haven’t had a chance to bring Regina to your group, you should do so because she’s amazing and I love, I love the passion, I love the energy. It’s so good.

   

• 0:13:11 Regina Miller: Yeah. Yeah. People ask often, do you ever sleep? And I’m like, no. I, you know, I’m, I’m an early, I’m an early retire when I’m not having date night. Date night has to be over by 10pm I’m tired.

   

• 0:13:24 Kris Murray: Yes.

   

• 0:13:25 Regina Miller: Get up at 5am even on the weekend. Wow. It’s my quiet time with God in nature and it’s my self reflection time to make sure that I’m pouring into me and that I’m also giving out, you know, what can be used and not just, you know, being some people, just tangible. I don’t want to be tangible. I don’t want to be someone that speaks because I have this knowledge. I wanted to make an impact like you were saying.

   

• 0:13:51 Regina Miller: And I’ll keep on talking till it makes an impact. So. Yeah.

   

• 0:13:56 Kris Murray: Well, I think that there is a connection between the 5am Wake up time and having this time of prayer and pondering and peace with your, your, your, your maker. Your maker. That’s the word I was looking for. Thank you. And I have the same routine. Although I’m not a 5am girl, I’m more like a 6:30am girl. But my first two hours are out in nature, usually doing A walk with my dog in all seasons, even in the wintertime. I bundle up and go on my winter walk.

   

• 0:14:34 Kris Murray: And having that pondering, prayer and nature time for me is what gets me out of bed, excited to go experience and start my day and come back to myself and my own heart and soul and listening to my higher self.

   

• 0:14:51 Regina Miller: Yes.

   

• 0:14:52 Kris Murray: Yeah. So you’re doing that. I love that.

   

• 0:14:54 Regina Miller: I always wonder when people say, I don’t like to be alone. That’s a trigger for me because I’m wondering, how then do you get centered? And how do you know if what you’re putting out in the universe is truly your authentic self?

   

• 0:15:09 Kris Murray: Yes.

   

• 0:15:09 Regina Miller: If you’re to be alone with you. I don’t really know that I want that company. Because you gotta like your stuff before you’ll even like me. You, you, you. That’s right, people, if. If you don’t like the person that God made you to be and work on that person first before you pour into others.

   

• 0:15:28 Kris Murray: Yeah, 100%. 100%. And even Regina in my earl, mid to late 50s here over the last four years.

   

• 0:15:38 Regina Miller: Looking good, Chris. Looking good.

   

• 0:15:40 Kris Murray: Well, thank you. Really Been pouring, discovering new versions of, like, peeling back and really getting in touch with the authentic self. Where is my heart and what is my true. And then really falling in love with myself again. Which might sound strange, but that’s exactly what you’re talking about. Yeah, I love alone time.

   

• 0:16:01 Regina Miller: Yeah. Like when I embrace my daughter and I don’t want to go off tantrum, but my daughter, before she passed away, she used to say, I used to get my hair colored every month. And she’d say, mom, you know, people think we’re sisters. Why don’t you let your hair gray? And I would say, well, no, them folks would know my age. And she goes, but people know your spirit. So she started that walk with me years ago. And I was like. When she passed, I said to my stylist, put away the hair color. We’re not gonna do it anymore. And she’s like, okay, now you’re being authentic. The 60s, Regina.

   

• 0:16:34 Regina Miller: And so, yeah, yeah. And I love her. I mean, she didn’t take away from any of my energy. It’s just when I look in the mirror, I’m like, is that my hair? You know, it is what it is. And the husband loves it. So as long as my date loves it.

   

• 0:16:50 Kris Murray: That’s right. That’s right. Yeah. I think it’s fantastic. It sets you apart. You’ve got this awesome gray hairdo. It’s gorgeous. The silver year You’re a silver fox. And look.

   

• 0:17:00 Regina Miller: Thank you.

   

• 0:17:01 Kris Murray: Yes. Let’s talk about your new book. So your. Your book is called Leadership Lessons.

   

• 0:17:07 Regina Miller: Yes.

   

• 0:17:08 Kris Murray: And is this your first book?

   

• 0:17:10 Regina Miller: No, this is actually my third book. I’ve co authored a book called Wichita Women Being Wichita Women. And then my second book was the book I wrote about my relationship with my daughter called the Life Celebration that Never Ends. And it’s loaded with pictures from the day she was born to the day that I got that drop dreadful call from her husband saying she passed away. So that’s my second book. And then the third book is the Leadership Lessons. Yeah, but Leadership Lessons, believe it or not, Chris is the first book I started writing. And it was just so hard to pin in there, you know, why I had to be transparent and honest, and there was no way to tell that story without talking about me.

   

• 0:17:51 Regina Miller: And every time I would start typing, my editor would say, I love that page. Don’t change a thing. And I’d send it back to her. She’d go, you changed that page. Why’d you do that? Yeah. So this is you. It’s bearing your soul of all the mistakes that, you know, I went through, make sure someone else doesn’t waste time doing that same circle, you know?

   

• 0:18:11 Kris Murray: Yes. Yeah. I think that there’s two of the hardest jobs to me of the journey that I’ve had for my. My own experience. Number one is being a mom is a hard job that you’ll always love. And no matter what happens, it’s just, you know, that amazing journey that nothing else can be like being a mother. And number two is being a leader. And I often say leadership is not for the faint of heart because we learn so much about, like, I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely screwed up a bunch as a leader.

   

• 0:18:50 Kris Murray: A lot. Yeah, a lot.

   

• 0:18:52 Regina Miller: Yeah. And it’s. It’s a lot that you don’t understand until you get to the next level and you’re like, you know what? That wasn’t so bad. I really waste a lot of time beating myself up when I should have took the lesson instead of be, you know, beating myself up about, I need to get it right. Yeah.

   

• 0:19:10 Kris Murray: Right?

   

• 0:19:11 Regina Miller: Yeah.

   

• 0:19:11 Kris Murray: Yeah, that’s. That’s good.

   

• 0:19:12 Regina Miller: So that’s.

   

• 0:19:13 Kris Murray: That’s covered in your book Leadership Lessons, and it’s available on Amazon, right?

   

• 0:19:17 Regina Miller: Yes, yes.

   

• 0:19:19 Kris Murray: And it’s helping.

   

• 0:19:20 Regina Miller: Can I show you a picture of the book?

   

• 0:19:21 Kris Murray: Yes, please. Yeah, lay it on us. Let me see. There’s the. There’s the Golden Gate Bridge. I love it.

   

• 0:19:30 Regina Miller: Cool. And it, and, and I’ve gotten lots of, you know, how you get reviews on Amazon and I’ve also gotten emails and stuff from people I don’t know across the country that’ll say, we used your book in our training and it was impactful because it was, you know, easy read and we really pulled out the nuggets and, and we just appreciate it. We want you to come speak to us. And, and I love that because you, you can learn a lot.

   

• 0:19:57 Regina Miller: A lot of times people think learning means hours, and it doesn’t always take a lot of hours. If you just pull apart maybe one or two things that you need, you know, maybe getting started or you’re in the middle, you’re at the burnout. So. Yeah.

   

• 0:20:11 Kris Murray: Yeah.

   

• 0:20:13 Regina Miller: Cool.

   

• 0:20:14 Kris Murray: So talk to me about, you know, one of, one of the most. That one is the, one of the top leadership lessons that you had that you experienced yourself that really transformed you as a leader or something that you want to share to the listeners as is kind of one of the big writer downers.

   

• 0:20:34 Regina Miller: One of the things I talk about in my book is listening to people. A lot of times as leaders, when we hire on new people and they’re smart, we get intimidated and we think, oh man, she’s going to go start her own company. Or she’s, you know, she’s, she’s, she’s smarter than me in that area. And I as a young leader had a struggle with that because I always think, thought I first started working for a corporate site, that the corporate would replace me if they saw that my assistant was as brighter or better in it or she did better in enrollment process.

   

• 0:21:09 Regina Miller: But what I learned through all of that was that I still had things that made me attractive as a leader and the reason why I was placed in that position. So I learned to cultivate that. Not get afraid of it, but to use it. And once I started using it, those people felt better about themselves. And yes, some are very successful business owners today as like myself. And then others come back to me and say, I wouldn’t be the successful leader I am today had you stunted my growth.

   

• 0:21:39 Regina Miller: So a lot of times when people have people on their team that they deem as that person’s going to take over, they don’t use that talent. So if I could give the listeners one tidbit today, it would be hire someone smarter than you. Learned that young. I learned that in my old age. Always hire people who are smarter than you because it makes you a better person. You’re getting better by Their talent. So when we say, man, I saw her resume. She’s overqualified. I’m not putting her on my team.

   

• 0:22:12 Regina Miller: She’ll buy my business in a year. Well, she might not buy your business, but she might buy her own business. But while she’s with you, you believe me, you have something to teach her, and she has something to teach you. So don’t be afraid of talent. That’s my.

   

• 0:22:28 Kris Murray: I love that. Before we hit the start button, we were talking about new leaders, new managers versus seasoned or veteran leaders. And there’s pitfalls or danger spots. I mean, for both, there’s, you know, strengths. Like, as a new leader, you’re coming in, you’re fresh, you’ve got energy, you’ve got excitement. Maybe more than a veteran who might be a little bit more burnout or having gone through a lot of issues like dealing with COVID and having all.

   

• 0:23:03 Kris Murray: But you have more of that experience as a veteran, but you might not have that fresh energy. So tell us a little bit if you have any advice when you’re working with new leaders, what are some things that you seek to share with somebody who’s brand new to early childhood education?

   

• 0:23:20 Regina Miller: A consultant with my clients. They’ll tell them. They’ll say, well, I just opened a center, and I don’t really know a whole lot about leadership. One of the things that I always tell them in leadership to do. Don’t make the same mistakes that I made thinking that the title qualifies you for all the entire circus. You need someone in every part of your ring. And when we discredit folks because we’re the director and we know what we’re talking about and we’re not going to listen to them, you are closing the door on a lot of.

   

• 0:23:51 Regina Miller: A lot of money. Because these people are. I had to use the word money. I’m sorry.

   

• 0:23:56 Kris Murray: Yes.

   

• 0:23:57 Regina Miller: These people are bringing their strength and their talent. They’re saying, hey, you know, I know you’re the director and you’re new, but here’s what I thought. You know, we’ve always done it this way, and. And we should continue doing it this way. You might hire someone new that says, no, that doesn’t work. Let’s try it this way. So again, as a new leader, be willing to listen. That is the most crucial thing I find in our industry that we do not do.

   

• 0:24:24 Regina Miller: If you put women in a room, nine times out of 10, only two of them are going to talk because the other four don’t get a chance to. And I’ve observed This so many years in my career, Chris, where we walk away from a meeting and we would call them focus groups. Back in my day, we’d call them. I know you’ve heard that word. We’d call them focus groups and they’d say, well, we have Regina Miller in the room and she’s not said a word.

   

• 0:24:51 Regina Miller: It’s not that I’m not saying a word. It’s because someone bought. You can’t be the smartest person in a room. So someone has brought some talent to the room that I now want to hear about, and then I can add my season to it, if that makes sense. So, yes, young leaders, I would employ them to pretty much understand that you will not have every answer. And even the tenured ones who have been in the industry over 20 years, I hear people say, well, they can’t tell me what to do. I’ve been in feel 20 years where we’ve changed a lot.

   

• 0:25:25 Regina Miller: We’ve changed in the last three years since COVID We’ve changed. So I don’t. I don’t get it when people say, well, I know already know what I’m doing. Well, I don’t need any help. That is the kiss of death. Yes, Leader. Never say to anyone, thank you for Talking to me, Ms. Chris, but I already know about that. Listen to Ms. Chris. Let her talk to you. There’s something in that conversation that you have not heard before.

   

• 0:25:52 Regina Miller: Trust me.

   

• 0:25:53 Kris Murray: Yes, sorry.

   

• 0:25:54 Regina Miller: I can go on.

   

• 0:25:56 Kris Murray: No, it’s good. This is good. This is good stuff. This is really.

   

• 0:25:59 Regina Miller: Go on and on about leadership because it’s good. One of the things that drives the ship, and it’s one of the things that’s least looked at, if I might use the term 100. Yeah, you’re a lot. It drives me crazy when I go to conferences, and that’s in my book, and I’ll be the keynote, and people will come up to me and I’ll say, well, I’d love to meet your owner. And they say, oh, she didn’t come. He didn’t come.

   

• 0:26:26 Regina Miller: They sent me. Well, you can’t really send people to get something that you’re not willing to get yourself. Yes, Leader needs to come with the flock. Yeah. Even if you sent them off to different little trainings, still come with them. It speaks volumes of their. Their talent to you. We’re all going to get it together. Yeah.

   

• 0:26:47 Kris Murray: You know what? That is something that we don’t talk about enough on this podcast. I’ve got so many owners. They’re all, you know, 85% of my guests on this podcast are owners of a single or multiple locations, and they’re all usually very involved in the evolution and growth and leadership of their schools. But sometimes when you get big and you have five or six locations, and maybe even if you have one, you get into a mode where you decide that you don’t really need to be present as the owner, and you send your teams to all the trainings and you stay back and you’re an absentee owner and you’re not part of building the culture. And leadership starts from the very top down.

   

• 0:27:33 Regina Miller: Yes. Yes.

   

• 0:27:35 Kris Murray: So I think that that is an important thing to state, which is that the most successful schools have very involved ownership teams and have owners who are intricately involved in setting up the core values and the cultures of their programs. And then they’re building up their leaders, having leadership retreats, working together as teams, diving in. Of course you’re going to delegate a lot as a successful owner, but.

   

• 0:28:06 Kris Murray: Yeah, but you get.

   

• 0:28:07 Regina Miller: But you need it, too. You need it, too. One of the things I get told quite often, and I’m not bragging about myself, but I’m definitely going to toot my horn is people say, oh, my God, I can’t believe how. How you inspire and train, but you also come back and inspire and train us, but you send us and you go with us. If I pick a training from my team, if I’m going to send them to Child Care Success Summit, I’m coming to.

   

• 0:28:32 Regina Miller: Yes, because it means a whole lot to your team when they see, you know, that you are there, that you want that same knowledge. And so it just can’t be. It can’t be you. Just them. You sending them all the time and asking them, you know, what did you learn? Because they want to be excited with you. And a lot of times my trigger question is, tell me your takeaway from that conference, because I have so many.

   

• 0:29:01 Regina Miller: And then they’re like, you have takeaway after all your knowledge? And I’m like, I have takeaways now. What did you learn? And sometimes we got two different things out of it or we get the same thing out of it. So, yes, that’s what I talk about in that book, that leaders cannot ask of their people what they’re not willing to do themselves. And a lot of times you can’t just delegate that down. You need to be.

   

• 0:29:24 Kris Murray: That’s right.

   

• 0:29:25 Regina Miller: Yeah.

   

• 0:29:26 Kris Murray: Yeah, I love that. Talk a little bit about the industry in terms of what you see with early childhood education. We are here four years past Covid. We’ve gone through lots of turbulence in terms of funding drying up, funding, different states going into different phases with requirements on staffing or getting into the whole pre K, you know, the universal pre K movement. And that has impacted a lot of programs. Some positive, some not so positive. So just talk a little bit about, because since you’re out and about doing trainings for the industry, what are you seeing in the industry and what are some reasons why we should stay optimistic about what?

   

• 0:30:18 Regina Miller: One of the things that I’m very proud of is that this past May, actually last month I went to Washington D.C. to the big child care symposium and we spoke to our legislators about, you know, bills and things that are changing. And you know, a lot of times people just focus on funding. A lot of people talk about we need more funding, we need money, we need money. There’s already money here to be made, there’s already families needing care.

   

• 0:30:46 Regina Miller: However, what we need to focus on is just ensuring that our industry is strong years down the line, not just for the moment. A lot of times we plug a hole with a grant and we say, oh my goodness, I’ve got this half a million dollar grant and I’m good. And then when that grant money’s gone, you sit and complain about there’s no more. So I would like to see our people get more involved in advocacy and talking to our legislators and letting them know that yes, we are part of the education system.

   

• 0:31:18 Regina Miller: It’s not just K12 or to college. It starts with us. And believe it or not, Chris, as an advocate, I always tell any legislator or senator I’m allowed to speak with, we started this thing. We are the starters. So you can’t treat us like we’re babysitters when we’re actually educators. And he says, I wish more people, a lot of them tell me, I wish more people understood that fact about your industry.

   

• 0:31:46 Regina Miller: It’s like with any profession, we respect doctors and nurses and dentists, but we don’t respect, respect our early childhood educators because for one thing, we always wait on a crisis to act like we get together. And we can be boisterous when the funds stop. We can be voiced when we have to shut down. For Covid, we need to be voiced. This is passion for me. We need to be voisters all the time. Even in a quiet time. Someone should step up behind some of these but behind the scenes grants and say, hey, don’t forget early childhood when you’re writing that bill.

   

• 0:32:24 Regina Miller: And that’s one of the things I’m not afraid to do with our Congress. And I’m not afraid to do it here with our local legislators or in the senate in Washington, D.C. i’m not afraid to write a letter and say, don’t forget about us. That could be lost in transit because we need a massive amount of people to rally with that. So again, in the long and short of things, we need more advocates. We need people speaking up and saying, hey, don’t forget about us. We’re not babysitters, we’re educators.

   

• 0:33:00 Regina Miller: They get bogged down with. They change the law. And so now anyone can do child care. Yeah, but not everyone’s qualified to do child care, you know, so we have to make this an industry that’s looked at as a profession.

   

• 0:33:14 Kris Murray: Yes, 100%. And I had Cindy Lenhoff on the podcast. I know that you’re friends with her. Oh, very much.

   

• 0:33:23 Regina Miller: Yeah.

   

• 0:33:24 Kris Murray: Yeah. So I’ll reference that in the show notes in the intro so people can reference back. I’ve done a couple of excellent episodes all about advocacy. And we need to revisit that and revisit those to dos and those action items and keep going on it. It’s not just a one and done.

   

• 0:33:43 Regina Miller: Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.

   

• 0:33:45 Kris Murray: Good.

   

• 0:33:45 Regina Miller: That’s right. The key.

   

• 0:33:49 Kris Murray: That’s the key. And I love it.

   

• 0:33:51 Regina Miller: Yeah. It’s like when everybody’s having a great summer, Ms. Regina’s writing letters or, you know, looking at the. The bills that the people are legislators have written. And I’m really reading the fine print in it. And I’m thinking, everybody’s happy because this says they’re going to money into private pre Ks and the schools are happy. But what about child care centers? So then there’s little me typing, don’t forget about child care centers.

   

• 0:34:20 Regina Miller: More people doing that.

   

• 0:34:22 Kris Murray: Yes. What is something about you that not that many people know that you might consider to be a fun fact?

   

• 0:34:30 Regina Miller: I’m a dancer. Not a professional one, but, boy, you give me a beat. I was invited to a friend’s 79th birthday party this past weekend, and she was the queen on the stage. But I sure got her moves in for her because I danced for four hours at my own birthday party. I never sat down. I absolutely love that. It’s something about music and just rhythm and the beat. And I can just. My granddaughter’s taking that trait, which I love. She’ll jump up in the house with me and dance.

   

• 0:35:04 Regina Miller: So I’m a dancer. Yeah.

   

• 0:35:06 Kris Murray: Cool.

   

• 0:35:06 Regina Miller: Got a boring party or you got a guest. My friends always invite me as the Party starter. And we’re not spring chickens, so they’ll say, we’re having a party. Ms. Regina, we need you to get up and dance, because my guests won’t dance. But once I dance, I make everybody dance. Cause I’ll go grab your guy your boo, and say, chris doesn’t want to dance. Come dance with me. And then Chris will join us. You know I’m a dancer.

   

• 0:35:30 Kris Murray: Yes.

   

• 0:35:30 Regina Miller: I just love music, and I like all types of music, Chris. That’s another thing. People get surprised about me. I’m not in one. One sector of music. I’m not just R B. I’m jazz. I’m country. I can. I can boogie off anything you give me. Bluegrass. I’m liking music.

   

• 0:35:48 Kris Murray: Nice. I’m the same way.

   

• 0:35:51 Regina Miller: I love it all.

   

• 0:35:52 Kris Murray: Yeah, I love to dance.

   

• 0:35:54 Regina Miller: My neighbor says, boy, when I see the music come on on your deck, I know Ms. Regina’s gonna put on a show. Yeah, I can dance.

   

• 0:36:01 Kris Murray: So there is something that has touched a lot of people who’ve attended my summit that connects dancing and leadership, and I want to share it with the audience and with you. And you probably. You might know what I’m talking about. There is a video of a guy who is a random crazy dancer at a festival, some festival, probably in California somewhere. I don’t know where. And he’s on the hillside, and he’s just jamming away by himself.

   

• 0:36:29 Kris Murray: And he does not care that he’s by himself, jamming away. And he’s probably out there for at least five or ten minutes by himself. And then all of a sudden, one person comes and joins him and starts dancing. And then another person comes, and then a few minutes later, another person comes. And you can watch this on YouTube. I’ll put the link in the show notes. It’s awesome. Before you know it, the whole hillside is full of dancers.

   

• 0:36:54 Regina Miller: This is.

   

• 0:36:55 Kris Murray: This is what leadership is. A leader stands in the middle and. And tries to start a culture or a movement. And then that fire. That’s right. Start the fire. And then it just takes one other person on his team or her team to join. And before you know it, it starts snowballing, and then your whole school will be dancing together.

   

• 0:37:15 Regina Miller: That’s true. That’s kind of. Cindy. Cindy’s gonna laugh when she sees this part of your podcast, because. And I went to visit her in Florida after my daughter passed away. I just needed to get away, and she invited me down, and we went to a. I don’t know where we were, but we were near the ocean and the Dance floor was huge and nobody was on it. So guess who went on it? Me. And then I got another lady, she joined me and then I had Cindy come out and she was like, oh, no, Ms. Regina. And we just got out there. Before you knew it, we had a floor full of elbow to elbow dancers.

   

• 0:37:49 Regina Miller: And so the DJ says, you started all of this. And I said, yeah, that’s usually what I do. I take a group that don’t want to get involved and I get them involved. So I, I really, really love dancing and I just, I think it is part of leadership. It is part of being able to say, and not everybody, like my friends. My hairstylist says I’m so introverted, I can never get up in front of people and dance. You’re not worried about those people. You know that saying, dance like no one’s looking.

   

• 0:38:17 Regina Miller: Just again, let your soul go with that music. And yeah, you know, rhythm, you know?

   

• 0:38:24 Kris Murray: Yes. And that also brings up, I was going to ask you about, I mean, obviously you’re an extrovert, right? So it comes naturally to you. But there’s a lot of people in our industry, I think our industry tends to be more introverts than extroverts. So how do we help leaders who are timid, they’re fearful, they don’t trust themselves and they may have had bad experiences trying to have those hard conversations.

   

• 0:38:53 Kris Murray: How do we get them to pull out their courage and just show up more fully for themselves and for their teams? How do you get them to do that?

   

• 0:39:03 Regina Miller: And I want to shout out to all of my introverted friends in early childhood, because you guys are the ones that are sitting and looking at us and going, wow, I get it all the time, Ms. Regina. I wish I was as boisterous as you where you are. And so what I would ask them to do do is write down the things that they want to be heard. A lot of times people don’t want to use their voice, but you can write it down and say, Chris, would you mention this? Ms. Regina, would you talk about this?

   

• 0:39:32 Regina Miller: So I get a lot of emails that go something like this, Chris, I don’t have the nerve to get up and do this, but I know you do. So would you please mention that we are in a crisis with this and this and this. And I’ll say, I certainly will. One of the other things I ask introverts to do is find a friend, find somebody, a mentor, a culture, a buddy that you know is the opposite of you. You like with me? I take, I like, I tend to draw a lot of introverted people.

   

• 0:40:01 Regina Miller: And they go, well, I’m not going to forget. It’s not going. And then once I get them with me, they. They mirror me. They start talking like my director of my school. When I first hired Jasmine, one of the things I had to talk to her about was, you’ve got to get out there and talk to those parents. They love you and they know you from paper, but they want to see you in person. She’s like, I’m not you. And I looked her square in the eye like I’m doing you. And I said, you don’t have to be me, but you have to be you.

   

• 0:40:28 Regina Miller: They need to know who you are. And so you’ll hear parents say, oh, I wanted to tell Ms. Jasmine Harris. So pretty, but I didn’t want to embarrass her. But let’s see, if you tell Ms. Regina, then I’m like, oh, wake up. Thank you. Well, what did you think about that gut, you know, so, yeah, we’re all different, but we’re all the same. Trust me. We’re all different, but we’re all the same. And so as leaders, you just find that person to be your outlet. You know, you got ideas in there, you’ve got what you need. We all do.

   

• 0:40:58 Regina Miller: I don’t believe God sent anybody here without what they need. And I really believe that. More than that, now that I lost my daughter, I really don’t think he sends us without what we need. It’s just timing. The timing has to be right. So if you’re an introverted leader and you’re looking for, how do I get my message out, or how do I not sound like I don’t know what I’m doing? I would say find a friend, a mentor, and you get together and. And you. You do that thing together.

   

• 0:41:29 Kris Murray: Awesome. Love it. Well, Regina, we are coming to the pointy end of the podcast, and unfortunately, we’re running out of time. I could talk to you for another hour and it would. This, I am sure.

   

• 0:41:42 Regina Miller: No.

   

• 0:41:45 Kris Murray: Tell us about what you’re excited about here in the summer of 2025. What’s headed on your plate for the rest of the year and into 2026. Anything you want to share?

   

• 0:41:55 Regina Miller: Absolutely. One of the things I’m most excited about is my management team is three. Three persons deep, and I’m getting to take them to Las Vegas next Friday. And you might say, well, that’s a fun trip. You would be surprised what you can teach a leader in Vegas. And I don’t Want to give away too much secret. Well, this will be aired afterwards, so they’ll already have secret. One of the things that I’m going to do in Vegas is, you know how one of my leaders is extremely introverted? It’s not my director anymore. It’s her assistant director, and I want to put her in a. In a crowd of people in Vegas. Because you feel like people watching is.

   

• 0:42:36 Regina Miller: Is being nosy. No, people watching is learning. So you get to learn all kind of attributes and people’s talents and stress. Gonna take them to a show. I’m gonna. It’s a homework assignment to find out who did you see in the crowd? What happened in the crowd? I’m also training a piece called the Five. Five Hours of Leadership. I think I have that book. That’s a really good one, Chris. This book. I’m gonna train on this.

   

• 0:43:04 Regina Miller: I wrote this training. So if you want to take it out of your podcast, you can, but.

   

• 0:43:10 Kris Murray: Yes.

   

• 0:43:12 Regina Miller: Cool.

   

• 0:43:13 Kris Murray: All right.

   

• 0:43:14 Regina Miller: It’s called the Five Hours of Leadership.

   

• 0:43:16 Kris Murray: Okay.

   

• 0:43:17 Regina Miller: Tell you what those five hours are, but they’re pretty intense. All right, copy. How about that?

   

• 0:43:23 Kris Murray: All right, cool.

   

• 0:43:24 Regina Miller: Copy. Because it’s. It’s things people don’t think about, but we’re gonna get you.

   

• 0:43:30 Kris Murray: So you’re gonna work on that. You’re gonna work on what they see and observe and. And learn there in Vegas. Yep.

   

• 0:43:39 Regina Miller: And how you use that in a crowd of people. Because if you can. If you can get along in Vegas or New York, you can get along anywhere.

   

• 0:43:47 Kris Murray: Yes.

   

• 0:43:47 Regina Miller: I want to show them some of the strengths they have. Gonna play a scavenger hunt game. Make them find stuff, you know?

   

• 0:43:55 Kris Murray: Yeah.

   

• 0:43:55 Regina Miller: Crazy. They’re gonna say, this woman’s lost her mind. But it’s all in. Leadership can be fun, and you can learn a lot, but you also need to put yourself in uncomfortable positions.

   

• 0:44:07 Kris Murray: Yes. So there’s a fun one on that for people that are going to Vegas with their teams. We did this at the Vegas Summit. Afterwards, we had our entire team there, and we went to Fremont street, which is old time, and we did a. We. There is a scavenger hunt company that will break your team into. So we had, like, 25 of us. So we broke into, like, so many.

   

• 0:44:30 Regina Miller: Miles was too small. I tried to hire them.

   

• 0:44:32 Kris Murray: Yes. Okay. So there you go.

   

• 0:44:34 Regina Miller: I needed at least 10 people.

   

• 0:44:36 Kris Murray: Yes. But you can create your own by just. Because there’s. There’s superhero characters on the street. There’s. You know, so they can do all sorts of things, but making them go up to strangers or being disc in discomfort by having to go find X, Y and Z is excellent. That’s a great way to get out of their comfort zone.

   

• 0:44:56 Regina Miller: You want tangible proof. When you find Superman and Elvis, take a picture with them.

   

• 0:45:00 Kris Murray: You know that’s right. 100. Love that. Yeah.

   

• 0:45:03 Regina Miller: And then the other thing that I’m working on is a leader, a literacy program for the fall. I’m really excited about that for the big kids. They can come back and check out library books. And pretty much at the end of the day, a quarter. It’s going to be for three months. End of a quarter, they’ll be rewarded with gift cards. So by Christmas a family could earn four gift cards. But you have to bring your kid to the school to check out the book. You know what that is? That’s a marketing strategy, Tris. It makes the parent bring the older kid, but then their friends start saying, well, where are you going? And they say, hey, we’re picking up our 7 year old. We’re going past trailblazers and someone else might have a younger child and say, well, do they have any openings?

   

• 0:45:44 Regina Miller: So it’s a way of bringing traffic into the school.

   

• 0:45:47 Kris Murray: Yes. Love that. You know, I love all things marketing and enrollment building. So that’s fan.

   

• 0:45:53 Regina Miller: Fantastic.

   

• 0:45:54 Kris Murray: Good.

   

• 0:45:55 Regina Miller: You get people in your building.

   

• 0:45:57 Kris Murray: Yeah.

   

• 0:45:57 Regina Miller: Look at it. You won.

   

• 0:45:59 Kris Murray: That’s right. That’s right.

   

• 0:46:01 Regina Miller: Cool.

   

• 0:46:01 Kris Murray: Well, thank you. This has been an amazing episode. I have loved spending this time with you today, Regina. And thank you for being here with me.

   

• 0:46:10 Regina Miller: Well, thank you, Chris. I appreciate all of your time with me. And again, I could go on and on forever because after 47 years it’s hard to wrap everything in a bubble and say, this is who Regina is, or this is what I do. But I’m always open so, you know, you can reach out to me.

   

• 0:46:26 Kris Murray: And how can people best find you and get ahold of you and learn more?

   

• 0:46:29 Regina Miller: Well, I do have the website. I’m not website. I have an email address. I’ll give it a plug. I’ll send you a plug book.

   

• 0:46:37 Kris Murray: Okay.

   

• 0:46:38 Regina Miller: The end of the. The thing here.

   

• 0:46:40 Kris Murray: Yep.

   

• 0:46:41 Regina Miller: You can also go to my website, our Miller Consulting llc, or through Trailblazers, Trailblazers Academy. Any of those things have a link to me and they can reach out to me or, you know, phone number, you can call me, but.

   

• 0:46:54 Kris Murray: And you’re on Facebook too.

   

• 0:46:56 Regina Miller: Yes.

   

• 0:46:56 Kris Murray: That’s another way.

   

• 0:46:57 Regina Miller: Facebook is a little tricky because I use my maiden name in the middle. So it’s Regina Purvis. P U R V I S Miller. Because a Lot of my high school mates couldn’t find me under Miller.

   

• 0:47:11 Kris Murray: Sure.

   

• 0:47:11 Regina Miller: Yeah.

   

• 0:47:12 Kris Murray: Totally get that.

   

• 0:47:13 Regina Miller: Yeah. I joined the board at one of the local community colleges and so a lot of the students were asking to be my friend, you know, and I thought, okay, that’s inappropriate. So I’ll stick that purpose in there. They won’t find Regina Miller. Right.

   

• 0:47:29 Kris Murray: That’s a good strategy. I like that. Well, thank you so much again, Regina. You’re just a joy. You do bring the joy every single time. And you’re just magnetic. That’s a.

   

• 0:47:40 Regina Miller: That’s.

   

• 0:47:40 Kris Murray: To me, that’s the word that comes to mind when I hang out with you. And joyful. And that kind of leadership always attracts more people to whatever you’re doing. So if you are struggling with finding people in your. On your staff or you can’t keep people is tap back into your joy, to your magnetism, into your. Your solid leadership skills and get the book, Leadership lessons.

   

• 0:48:07 Regina Miller: Please get the book. Thank you, Chris. I appreciate you.

   

• 0:48:11 Kris Murray: Thank you so much. Appreciate you too.

   

• 0:48:12 Regina Miller: Bye. Bye.

   

• 0:48:14 Kris Murray: Bye. I hope you liked this episode of Child Care Rockstar Radio. If you did, please leave a review and share it with someone you know to help spread the word to friends in our industry and on social media. Child childcare business success is my passion and I’m honored to be on this journey with you. As a thank you for listening, I’ve got a new video training that shows you how to add six figures or more of new revenue to your program in the next 60 days by improving your hiring and your enrollment systems.

   

• 0:48:46 Kris Murray: To watch my new video, just go to www.fixmyschool.com that’s fixed. Fixmyschool.com thanks. Take care and God bless.