Mission-driven early care & education professional

Hi, I’m Chelsea. I develop cutting edge strategies and programs to serve child care providers and families.

Headshot

About me

I work at the intersection of early care & education (ECE), civic technology, and public policy.  

I'm passionate about fair pay for caregivers, effective government funding systems, sustainable child care business models, and technology to support these goals.

I co-founded and led Pie for Providers (an ECE tech nonprofit), which was acquired by Lillio (a growth stage ECE tech company). I joined Lillio as the organization’s first policy leader. Along the way, I was also an early team member at Promise Venture Studio, an ECE field-building nonprofit.

When I’m not nerding out on early childhood policy, you can find me in Chicago and nearby nature with my husband and two young children. Ideally these adventures also include a bike, a book, and/or a local IPA.  

Let’s work together

I'm available for remote or Chicago-based consulting, advisory, or full-time roles.

I’m particularly interested in partnering with philanthropy and the public sector, but open to all high impact early childhood work.

Potential projects include:

  • Strategic planning 

  • Program development 

  • Landscape analysis 

  • Market analysis 

  • Policy analysis 

  • And more…

What I bring to the table

Clarity to complex topics

I am adept at identifying patterns, weighing alternatives and creating strategies for action. I hold the details and the big picture in my head together - a key skill in our fragmented early childhood ecosystem. This enables me to drive progress in a uniquely strategic, substantive way.

Entrepreneurialism

I know how to test, iterate and learn in low information environments. I believe in a virtuous cycle of action and analysis. I have the chutzpah to try new things. 

Empathy

We must partner with and learn from child care providers and families to solve the thorny problems in our field. I bring the tools of human centered design - as well as basic respect - to develop practical, usable solutions that solve real problems.

Recent Projects

Scaling Solutions for the Childcare Crisis: Technology and Shared Services

As Entrepreneur in Residence at Promise Venture studio, I collaborated with leading early childhood practitioners to develop a strategy for integrated state technology ecosystems. This webinar summarizes the key ideas behind this work.

Subsidy Billing Service

Pie for Providers’ subsidy billing service helped child care providers claim 30% more funding from government child care subsidies. As CEO & Co-founder, I led the development of this service.

Show & Tell: Innovation in Child Care

I led the launch of Promise Venture Studio’s now signature Show & Tell demo series. I also hosted the child care-focused event in the series. 

Additional proprietary projects

  • 50-state policy tracker - helped an early childhood tech company track key state level policies and programs regarding child care technology to drive company strategy 

  • State prioritization framework - helped an early childhood tech company identify high priority markets based on comprehensive policy and market data