Today we’d like to introduce you to Donovan & Elesha Grace.
Hi Donovan & Elesha, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing With Grace Tutoring started with the passion of a teacher and the mind of a Financial Analyst. As a teacher, I (Elesha) would frequently tell Donovan (Financial Analyst) the stories of things that happened in my classroom. I noticed that many children were struggling and needed additional help outside of what time allowed during the school day. I guess my constant storytelling (and sometimes complaining) intrigued Donovan because soon after he decided he wanted to start tutoring. Donovan tutored for about half a year before I too got on the tutoring bandwagon. It was fun! Donovan specialized in math, while I preferred to focus on reading. We each started off with a few clients and we were really enjoying our new side hustle.
One day, we received an inquiry from a client that wanted reading and math tutoring, so Donovan and I decided to tag-team. It was our first time seeing each other’s strengths and we immediately saw the vision of what this could truly be. A few weeks later, we created our LLC and the rest was history.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not. We launched our new business in December 2019. We had everything in place for the perfect launch, and then BOOM! COVID-19. Initially, it hurt because we didn’t know how to adapt. Children were at home, we no longer could visit our tutoring clients, and we didn’t know when things would go back to “normal.” We were devasted, but we had to do something if we wanted our business to still be viable. We decided to mirror what the schools were doing and began offering virtual tutoring. It was slow at first, but it started picking up as parents needed help navigating virtual learning. We did that for about a year before things started to open up. While it was a struggle, it definitely showed us the need to learn how to pivot when things don’t go as planned. I think this really made us stronger business owners.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are, a married, Black millennial couple looking to take the tutoring world by storm! With a combined ten plus years of experience, we have put our minds and our passion projects together in hopes of making a serious impact in the lives of our students. We recognize the need for educational support, especially in minority communities and we are working hard to bridge that gap. With God’s vision over our lives, we yearn to help students both in Georgia and across the world.
Our mission is to “Gracefully grow the minds of kindergarten-12th grade children by providing quality tutoring in all core subjects. At Growing With Grace Tutoring we take pride in working with children from various backgrounds, including those from minority communities and children with specific instructional accommodations. By providing children with a safe space to feel seen and heard, our goal is to grow the individual child to his or her maximum potential.”
What sets us apart from others is the services we offer. We aren’t just in the business of making money but truly making a difference in our community. On top of in-person and virtual tutoring, we offer Math and Money: Financial Literacy for Kids. This is a project that focuses on teaching children financial literacy through the math they are already learning in school.
We are most proud of our new storefront location. With our new Smyrna location, we can now offer even more in-person sessions.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
We’ve learned that you must be willing to adapt quickly in times of pressure. If we did not add virtual tutoring to our service mix, Growing With Grace Tutoring may not be here today. Virtual tutoring is now one of our main services and is here to stay!
Contact Info:
- Email: growingwgracet@gmail.com
- Website: www.growingwgrace.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/growingwgracet/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/growingwgracet
Image Credits
Professional Pictures taken by @shotbymk
