| LEADING THE WAY |
Children’s Workshop Foundation was established in 2011 to serve the needs of families. As a 501(c)3 public charity, our mission is to spark confidence, joy and the love of learning in each child. All of our proceeds go toward bettering the lives of children, improving communities, and furthering early childhood education.
STRONG LEADERS
Strong leaders set out to make a difference. They measure success by the impact they make in other people's lives. Our CEO, our Board of Directors and every employee at The Children's Workshop have a common goal: to improve the lives of children and under served families in our communities by helping them access needed resources and quality education. We accomplish this by supporting other organizations whose goals align with ours and through mentoring and community outreach.
Our CEO and board members come from a wide-rang of backgrounds, enabling us to access a broad knowledge base and pave the road to success for the children and families we serve.
We proudly introduce you to...
Sasha Brathwaite | CEO
I am a proud Latina, who was born in Providence, RI from a Puerto Rican mother and a Dominican father. My parents were teenagers when I was born, having me at the ages of 19 & 17, respectively. So to say we didn’t have much was an understatement. We were on government assistance and lived at the Manton Ave projects until I was the age of 9, where my dad had saved enough money to buy a two family house a little further down Manton Ave., where they still live today. I was lucky in my life, as I attended a Headstart program held at the recreation center on Manton Ave; and that is where I learned English. I was also very fortunate to have an advocate when I was in elementary school who noticed that I could excel in a more challenging academic program. I then attended the gifted program at Nathaniel Greene Middle School in Providence where I struggled! I was failing math and English. My parents were always very invested in my education and purchased CD programs to help me study. I also had to skip P.E. for extra time with teachers to help me pass those classes. With the extra support, I passed and adapted to the new demands of a more rigorous program. From there I went to Classical High School and actually started to excel in Math. I held a number of jobs while in high school - I was a math tutor in the mornings, I worked at McDonalds, I worked as a camp counselor and then at a nursing home towards the end of my high school career - while being a 3-season athlete playing soccer, indoor and outdoor track. Some time along the way, my dad realized that going to college may actually happen for me and started saving during my time in high school. I applied to a number of schools, and got accepted to many of them, but ended up choosing Bryant University. I wanted to study business and their program came with exciting opportunities. Through loans and scholarships, we were able to make this a reality!
I share this publicly because it is important to me that people understand where I come from. It may be easy to see the degree’s that I have earned; but not see my grit and determination, or that of my community or my advocates that enabled me to lead this company today. I think of how we have the opportunity to do this everyday with the children who enter The Children's Workshop's doors. I often reflect on how different my life could have been if my parents weren’t so fiercely dedicated to my well-being and progress, if I hadn’t had advocates to send my education in different directions or if I was less stubborn and actually took no for an answer.
My hope and desire is to partner with the Board of Directors, and my talented team, to bring out the best in our children and their families, in our community and in our employees.
Our secret to the success The Children's Workshop has earned over the past 30 years is simple - we hire good people, trust them to do their jobs and do everything we can to bring out the best in them.