As an entrepreneur and mother, Alexandra Flores has seen her children, her community's children and her organization flourish over the past two decades in Providence. This is because in 2000 she founded Happykids Home Childcare, shortly after giving birth to her daughter. At the time, she was raising a young infant and also working at a factory: these two parts of her life were at odds. Ms. Flores came up with ultimate solution to, as she says, "offer services to oversee and take care of infants in their homes," and simultaneously care for her own children.

With the support of her community, colleagues, and local organizations, Ms. Flores left her job and the factory and did just that. Today, Happykids Home Childcare provides childcare services to parents, who once, like Ms. Flores, struggled to find good care for their babies while at work.

Happykids Home Childcare wasn't built overnight, however. To do it right, Ms. Flores got a license from DCYF first. Getting this certification made her fledgling business plans a reality. "When I got my DCYF license, I saw the opportunity to start this business and have seen that my business has improved each day."

Unlike the old adage which says motherhood is never easy, the road to becoming both a childcare specialist and a mother has been, well, easy for Ms. Flores. While using the psychological, physical and mental skills, necessary for nurturing childcare, Ms. Flores also made sure her own children got the love and care they needed. As a testament to her balanced nature and her "super mom" qualities, Ms. Flores told the CWE that she saw it as a rewarding adventure. "This adventure has seemed to be easy for me. Along with being convenient, I have been able to raise and take care of my own children."

Because there's always room for fine-tuning, Ms. Flores enrolled in classes which detailed entrepreneurial finances at the CWE in 2019. The lessons on finances made her smooth operation even smoother. The courses she took in April and October has in her words, "...contributed to my knowledge of financials needed to run my business."

With her successful organization running nearly perfectly, Ms. Flores reminds people that you can achieve goals like establishing your own organization. But it's not simply done by sitting alone in the corner, doing online research and day-dreaming. To believe in your goals is to act on them and seek help from those around you.

"Attitude is fundamental in reaching success. In the beginning, you might be scared by this change, but in my case everything went smoothly. With support from colleagues and organizations, anything is possible," Ms. Flores says.

Providence, RI
HappyKids3@Cox.net

Special thanks to CWE volunteer writer, Lela Kulkarni