Infant Safe Sleep Environments for Child Care Providers

When asked to describe herself, Tammy will tell you she is a passionate and driven early childhood administrator and disability advocate. She has worked with children in some capacity her entire adult life and loves every minute of it! Quite simply, she loves people and wants to make a difference in people’s lives. A tenacious supporter of working parents, school choice and private high quality early childhood programs, she and her husband own two nationally accredited child care centers in Norman, OK. Tammy is an involved owner and works at the center daily on administrative tasks and overseeing the center’s Education and Human Relations programs.

Tammy has 34 years of experience in the early childhood field. Thirty of those years have been in administration of early childhood programs as a director of both a local and a hospital based on-site center, district manager and as an area operations manager for a regional early education company. She was awarded the Friend of Children Award in 2010 by the Central Oklahoma Friends of Early Education/Norman United Way-Success by 6 Initiative and also the Team Leader Award by her district peers while working at national corporate provider of child care.

As a natural next step several years ago, Tammy formed Child Care Strategies LLC and began consulting, training, and giving keynote addresses. She has become known for her inspiring story telling, candor and humor in her presentations at local, state and national conferences and training events. Tammy’s popular keynotes and trainings come from real life experiences. She has been hands-on in childcare programs for decades. While being a director she was also a cook, filled in classrooms, took care of maintenance (an expert at unclogging toilets) and multi-site management.

A lifelong learner who is passionate about early childhood education, she has earned an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, a Bachelors Degree in Education/Family and Child Studies with a minor in Business from the University of Central Oklahoma. Additionally, she was awarded a Masters Degree in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Tammy is a graduate of the College of William and Mary School of Law – Inaugural Special Education Advocacy Institute of 2011 and a graduate of Leadership Norman Class of 2013.

Her credentials include the National Administrators Credential, Child Development Associate Credential and the Oklahoma Director’s Credential-Gold Level. Tammy is an educator teaching child care providers about child development practices through the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Early Childhood Professional Development and also Child Care Strategies LLC, where she is the CEO. As a Professional Development Specialist (PDS) for the CDA Council, she works with candidates as they earn their CDA Credential. She is active at the State Capitol promoting legislation that will improve the lives of children in Oklahoma, special education, as well as promoting the growth and safeguard the interests of quality early childhood care and education by focusing on licensed, small business private providers of those services.

She is a past President of the Central Oklahoma Friends of Early Education and has served on the Success by 6 Norman Leadership and Early Childhood Task Forces. She is the Vice President of the Licensed Child Care Association of Oklahoma. She is a member of the National Child Care Association, Association of Early Learning Leaders, Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. In 2014, she served on the board of Among Friends, an activity center for disabled adults. Tammy and her husband, Paul Maus are both advocates for children with disabilities and their families.

Together, Tammy and Paul are the proud parents of five children – four sons and a daughter and have a grandson that has them wrapped around his little finger. In her small moments of free time, Tammy enjoys scrapbooking, photography, spending time with her family and is hopelessly addicted to Pinterest for teaching ideas.
http://www.childcarestrategies.com

Anyone who knows Rikki, know that she is fun loving, sassy and absolutely passionate about the child care industry. Rikki is the Executive Director of the Licensed Child Care Association of Oklahoma and has been with Bright Start Early Education Centers since 2006 in several management roles. She began her early education career as the Infant and toddler teacher. She has served as the school age teacher, bus driver, program coordinator and assistant director. In her current role as Field Operations Manager, Rikki assists Directors with licensing, health & safety compliance, and quality assurance. She also helps oversee participation in the Federal Food Program and oversees many vendor contracts. Rikki also serves as the company’s liaison to numerous boards and commissions that work to promote Early Childhood Education and in her role as a Executive Director of the Licensed Child Care Association of Oklahoma, which is the state affiliate of the National Child Care Association. She is active at the State Capitol promoting legislation that will improve the lives of children in Oklahoma, and further the interests of the child care industry. She is a past President of the Central Oklahoma Friends of Early Education and has served on the Success by 6 Norman Early Childhood Task Force.

As a natural transition, Rikki began training, coaching and consulting with other Child Care Professionals. She is a trainer for the OK Early Learning Guidelines and OK Safe Infant Sleep Environments. Her audiences find her to be funny, approachable and a wealth of information and practical experiences. Additionally, she serves as a Education and Disability advocate for children and their families working with schools and state agencies.

Rikki has a college education focusing on early childhood education and dance education. Additionally, she has earned a Child Development Associate Credential, a Certificate of Mastery from Rose State College and an Oklahoma Silver Directors Credential. She has earned numerous ECE training certificates, with a focus on special education, behavior management and child care management. Rikki grew up in the Dallas, TX area where she attended a child care center that she loved. Rikki was on her High School Dance Team where she served as Team Motivator and was on her College Dance Team.

Rikki is a proud Aunt ReRe to eighteen nieces and nephews that she loves very much. Her hobbies include scrapbooking, reading, pool time in the summer, OU football (even though she is a Texas native) and spending time with the love of her life Mark and their adorable fur babies, Charlotte the cat, Trudy and Bayslee, her precious puppies. Her favorite part of the job is working with the wonderful child care and early education professionals throughout Oklahoma and seeing the children grow and learn.