December 9, 2021 - Sheryl Lynette Ashford is the CEO and founder of Small World Big Step Academy, a Family Child Care Program located in Minneapolis.
She was born and raised in East St Louis, Illinois, “by strong women in my family.” Her grandmother discovered Sheryl’s hearing loss when she was three years old. She attended a mainstream education throughout her elementary and middle school years.
Since nine years old, Sheryl knew that she wanted to become a teacher. After completing her high school years at Illinois School for the Deaf, Sheryl attended the South Western Illinois College (SWIC) to study Teacher Education. In the midst of her education study, she was blessed with her firstborn child. Over time, Sheryl’s family expanded with three additional beautiful children. Her focus then shifted to her children, and her education was put on hold, and she had to seek employment outside the home to care for her family.
Sheryl’s first job was in a restaurant setting. Within a few months, she was offered a promotion as a lead manager. After four years of working as a lead manager, training and coordinating 6-8 employees, she participated in the AmeriCorps Program (Corporation for National and Community Services). During those two years, Sheryl worked as a volunteer teaching assistant in an elementary school setting, assisting the lead teacher with daily activities and working in small groups with some students who needed additional support. Sheryl was also a tutorial assistant at the Community Recreation Center after school hours supporting young children with homework.
Through hard work and persistence, Sheryl obtained her first professional teacher assistant position with East St. Louis School District 189 at their Vivian Adam Early Childhood Center in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program. “It was an amazing experience.” Since then, her teaching experiences in the education field as a teacher assistant continued to grow and flourish. These experiences eventually led Sheryl to the state of Minnesota, where she obtained and maintained employment as a paraprofessional at Metro Deaf School for six years.
After completing her career at Metro Deaf School, Sheryl attended Saint Paul College and pursued an Associate of Science degree in Child Development. During her course studies, she completed several work experiences at various child care centers. In addition, she was providing child care to families in the South St. Paul area in a 1,080 sq. ft. two-bedroom condo apartment. “Those were very busy times, and this is where the idea of owning my own child care services started.”
She has experienced communication barriers in the Child Care work environment due to her hearing loss. For this reason, she decided to start her own child care business to offer services to families in the Deaf community. “I wanted to positively impact young children and parents who may have deaf children by modeling that a deaf person can succeed as a child care provider and a business owner.”
Sheryl’s journey to becoming a currently selected licensed child care provider in the Minneapolis area has been challenging, “yet an amazing experience with the support from community resource services, mentors, family, and friends.” Sheryl hopes to expand and transition her in-home child care business into a Child Care Center and partner with school facilities in the near future.
“While there is still much work to do, my journey has been an eventful one, and I can say with great pride that I am most proud that I have accomplished my dream of establishing my own business, and I am a successful Black Deaf Businesswoman.” She enjoys teaching and working with young children. “These young individuals continue to inspire me and teach me how to become a better teacher while there is more to learn as the CEO and the founder of Small World Big Step Academy.”
Sheryl shares the following words of wisdom: “Often, I notice that people may start a business with a product that they think will help them ‘get rich quickly’ or because it is a ‘trend’ or the ‘thing to do’ at the time. They rush ahead with their business with very little knowledge or experience in operating a business, which is one of the leading reasons why many start-ups fail.”
“As a businessperson with personal experience, if one wants to start a business, my advice would be to start based on something you are good at. Whether it's cooking, sewing, caring for children, painting, cleaning, marketing or cutting grass, etc. (you name it). Start Somewhere, stay true to yourself, and don't let anyone deprive you of your dreams. Most importantly, have a positive attitude with patients. Positive attitudes can take one a long way to success in anything that you do throughout life. And remember, do your homework, research, research!”
When Sheryl is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, especially during the holidays.
The #CanDoAnything campaign showcases people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing at work, giving them an opportunity to share what they do at their jobs and explain how communication access works for them. This campaign shows what our community can do, which is anything!
For more information about Small World Big Step Academy, please visit their website or call 612-439-9328 / text 612-267-9917.
