Hi, I am Traci Schmidley, Ed.D.I am the Director of Country Day Montessori School and the CEO of Microschool America. The organization was founded in 2021 to help empower ordinary Americans to launch their own microschools.Through Microschool America, my goal is to empower current and future microschool founders to cultivate learning spaces that are designed to meet the unique needs of the community they are located in. Our network (thus far) includes founders in 13 states. I also collaborate with industry leaders to add the best business and educational products and services to our microschool toolbox which is a collection of resources microschool founders can utilize to grow schools in their own communities. I am passionate about this work because in 2017, I founded my own microschool, Country Day Montessori School, in a rural community in Louisiana. The school provides a personalized learning approach and attracts students who have special needs as well as students who are academically gifted. Despite the microschool's rural setting, many of our students have achieved remarkable accomplishments. Microschooling for me was initially the result of my decision to walk away from my career in higher education to care for my family. I am an unapologetic mother to 9 children, 5 of whom I adopted from foster care. Several of my children have profound special needs. I therefore champion equity, access, inclusion, and trauma-aware practices. I also champion the often overlooked and underutilized potential of women who took career breaks to care for their families.Through Microschool America I hope to empower and inspire all people, but especially mothers, to live out their dreams and own their own business while simultaneously making an enormous positive impact in the communities they serve through education.