A few weeks ago, I nervously walked into a Bay Area library, camera in hand, to meet and photograph our APW + Squarespace small business scholarship winner. For those of you who have been following along since January, the originally selected recipient will not be assuming the scholarship. APW wishes them much continued success! But that means today I get to introduce you to our new recipient, Tristen Chang of RCG Education, who runs a tutoring business in the Bay Area.
When I first spoke to Tristen on the phone, I was surprised to discover that she’s actually been an APW reader for almost as long as the site has been in existence (this is her testimonial from one of the very first sponsored posts we ever published, in fact). So all of my nervousness upon entering the library melted away once I saw a friendly face look up from a table and wave me over, because it turns out that meeting Tristen was like meeting an old friend.
Tristen started RCG Education in 2007, largely in response to No Child Left Behind. She told me:
Schools were slashing their reading and writing programs to spend more time on standardized test prep, and parents were concerned that their children were not actually learning to become strong readers, writers, or critical thinkers. These complex skills take years to develop, and cannot simply be assessed using multiple choice tests. Plus, they suck the joy out of literature!
In 2007, I only had four students. Over the next few years, I slowly gained more and more, until 2010, when I had to decide between turning students away or focusing exclusively on RCG. I had never expected that this little business would actually be my long-term career, so this was a terrifying move for me! But, once I hit about thirty students, it seemed to be the tipping point—I no longer advertise, they just keep coming. In 2012, I started my scholarship program, and hope to expand that in the future.
Reading Tristen’s application, I understood logically that what she was doing was important. (An understanding that was only reinforced when I started talking to former students and parents of students, who describe Tristen’s work as life changing.) But then I got to witness it for myself. As I walked quietly around the library, photographing Tristen for this post, I had the pleasure of spending about half an hour watching her interact with one of her students. He had come to his session looking shy and unsure of himself, and when I left, he and Tristen were cracking jokes while learning complex vocabulary.
When we started talking about this scholarship (many many moons ago), Meg and I knew we were entering into a realm of unknown. Would anyone apply? If so, who? How would we choose the winner? And could we really help make a difference in someone’s business? But watching Tristen with her student, it all sort of clicked into place. We’ve had the great fortune of working with Squarespace to provide this scholarship opportunity and pay it forward to a member of our community, who it turns out has been supporting us for over half a decade. In turn, that person is paying it forward to kids in our community who are probably going to grow up and be the future CEOs of companies like Squarespace. I mean, this is the Bay Area we’re talking about. And that is some kind of full-circle feel good magic. That, to me, is the purest illustration of what #PinkEntrepreneurship can do, when given the right resources.
For the rest of the year, we’ll be working closely with Tristen on growing a few key areas of RCG Education, including:
- A brand new website, courtesy of Squarespace. One of the first things Tristen said to me in our interview was that her website could use a makeover, so we’ll be hunkering down this summer to implement all of the tools and tricks we’ve learned from the past year of working with Squarespace, to give RCG Education a brand-new website that’s easy to navigate and not too bad to look at either.
- Figuring out what’s next, courtesy of the APW staff: One of the hardest parts of running your own business is figuring out what direction to expand when you’re ready to take things to the next level. Meg and I will be meeting up with Tristen to discuss her goals, offer guidance on how to hire smart, and figure out how she can use her scholarship award to take RCG Education to the next level.
I hope you’ll join me in congratulating Tristen and welcoming her (officially) into the APW fold. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year will bring.
This post was sponsored by Squarespace. Thank you Squarespace for helping make the APW mission possible, and our dream of supporting #PinkEntrepreneurs a reality. The Squarespace mission is to provide creative tools that give a voice to your ideas, and a home for your business. In conjunction with the APW + Squarespace small business scholarship and our #PinkEntrepreneurship series, Squarespace is offering APWers a 10% discount on yearly subscriptions when you use the code APW15 at checkout. Click here to get your business website started today with a free 14-day trial from Squarespace.
