Meet Dinna Marie Bacordo | Legacy KinderCare Center Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dinna Marie Bacordo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dinna Marie, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
To Never GIVE UP! I was given a very challenging assignment. But through hard work and dedication I am beginning to see improvement in many areas. Taking over a center, retaining existing families, dealing with student behaviors, avoiding incidents, hiring and uncontrollable staffing issues of getting sick and calling off, just getting through each day and still creating a peaceful and loving environment that everyone in the center. I believe that as long as we live, we learn through challenges, from the experience that we encounter daily which makes us become wiser and a better person as we can be examples
to others. Sometimes it is overwhelming and you just want to quit but if you have put so much effort in something and give up, you will never see the success or the fruit of your hard work. Just keep on going, do what is right, be fair and God will do the rest.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am proud to be part of KinderCare which is America’s largest private provider of early childhood education and child care. I have been in the company for more than a year and have been given the opportunity to be in-charge of 2 centers in such a short period of time, Both centers had problems with staffing. Finding the right teachers who will provide high quality education and care. I have been blessed to hire and double the staff in a short time. I have been known to be a magnet to finding teachers in our district. Forming a great team leads to stability, happy students and happy parents. The challenges I face is getting call -outs from staff. I have to understand that we are human, have families to take care of, doctor appointments, other emergencies. The key is to hire and make sure there is coverage in each classroom which helps with the consistency every class needs. Students love and get attached to their teachers and they want to see them daily. Everyday, I am faced with challenges and pains that there are times I question myself why I am here but at the end of the day _ we made it! The best motivation is getting great parent reviews and retention. This is why I am pushing through and never giving up! I want to see the success of why I am assigned to a center. Usually it takes a director to fully see the growth of a center but I have done it in a few months. I believe that all of us have a purpose and this is mine, to build the foundation of every child and to make every teacher happy to come to work and parents trusting their child in our care.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my husband and I have guests visiting Dallas, we usually take them around to the places we enjoy and are proud of why we live here! We take them out to dine, shop and walk around Legacy West which is a beautiful city within a city! We take them to tour the Historic Downtown McKinney, take a stroll and visit the shops, sit and enjoy some ice cream! We are Texans so we have to take them to Forth Worth Stockyards, watch the rodeo, have some steaks. We make them enjoy the western atmosphere at the Sundance Square, take home authentic Western hats and souvenirs. If they are a sports fan, it is great to take
them to the Dallas Cowboys World Corporate Headquarters at The Star in Frisco, enjoy the lights of the wide screen showing the Cowboys play! It’s best to watch when the game is ON! It’s just an exciting experience with all the people around cheering!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have a lot of people to thank who have supported me that made me the person I am today. But I want to dedicate this shoutout to the person who believes in me and is supporting me through the challenges I am facing today. She is my District Leader Toiya Parker. She is such a great leader and finds opportunities to acknowledge and recognize the good work that I do and every one in her Team. This why I am not giving up. We do not see our strengths but others do and we will not know it until we go through a challenging experience and overcome it. Learn from it, keep on going to reach the goal of achievement and Success!