Sarah Martinez’s entry into early childhood education came through an unlikely clerical error. Fresh out of college and working as a YMCA lifeguard, she applied to a number of different jobs and her application was accidentally stapled to someone else’s who was applying for a teaching job. When a child care center called to interview her, mistakenly thinking she was a certified instructor with classroom experience, Martinez was candid about the mix-up but expressed interest anyway. Her only teaching experience at the time? Leading Sunday school lessons for refugee children at her father’s church and teaching swim lessons. Yet that chance occurrence launched what would become a fulfilling career in early education. Now, as director of an early childhood learning center on the North Shore managing 54 staff across 14 classrooms, Martinez credits the Essential Leadership Model, taught through the Early Childhood Support Organization (ECSO) program with helping her develop a more collaborative and effective leadership approach.
