Valerie Brock is the founder of Every Child Is A Genius, a pre-kindergarten school for the gifted. Valerie’s family has continuously placed a great deal of value on education stretching back at least four generations of educators to her great-great-grandfather William Jefferson White, founder of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. She always knew it would only be a matter of time before life brought her to education, and it did, but not for the reason you’re thinking.
When Valerie became pregnant, things finally made sense to her. She knew she wanted to be an active parent in her child’s life, so she chose to become a teacher. Valerie’s daughter was promoted twice and graduated high school at the age of sixteen. This made Valerie realize how important it is to foster children’s talents at a young age. Being the parent of a gifted child has helped her be a better parent and teacher, and now it’s Valerie’s turn to start a school of her own.
Valerie’s choice to carry on her family’s legacy in learning and education made her realize just how much our society undervalues early childhood education. She believes our culture has devalued our children’s capacity to learn at a young age, as evidenced by her struggles to secure funding. Appealing to funders with a model like this when education “is so often wealth-driven instead of human-driven” has made it difficult to gather capital for the construction of the school building and space.
Although development on the building may be stagnant or slow, Valerie’s community and family have stood by her side and supported her in many ways during this pandemic. Her son even helped integrate kinesthetic learning into her program. As for us, we’re happy to listen to her ideas and provide her with business advice and other helpful insights. Supporting entrepreneurs with a mission like Valerie’s makes our work worth it.
As a woman, Valerie carries the torch for other women building institutions and fulfilling their dreams despite their circumstances. She has a fire to drive to push forward and bring change. She believes change is here and we need to be a part of it.
Valerie is currently working as a homeschool education consultant. As well, she continues to move forward in making her dreams of building her school a reality, completing architectural plans, and developing a plan for funders to invest in her space.
Follow Valerie’s journey to a brick-and-mortar establishment on social media at @everychildisagenius or visit EveryChildIsAGenius.Org for more information.
