Today we’d like to introduce you to Tongie Scott and Ty Brown.
Tongie and Ty, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 1995, after having suffered a malignant type of cancer in my thyroid, I was in need of a babysitter. My children were small and I wanted to sell Mary Kay Cosmetics. I placed an ad in the local paper (Columbus, Miss) and the response was overwhelming. I knew I was on to something, I just didn’t know what at the time. I was a paralegal at the time and going back and forth to the office, being away from my children and the sheer fact that I had completed a round of radiation therapy had finally began wreaking havoc in my life. I wanted a change. So I began to pray and earnestly seek God’s Perfect Will for my life and what I was dealing with. I guess you can say my dreams began to be interrupted. I started seeing this agency and the wife reaching effects that could come about. I was the only babysitting/nanny agency within a 40 mile radius of the Golden Triangle Area. I was encouraged to quit my day job and do this business while-heartedly. Oh!!! Did I mention that my first attempt to obtain a loan was laughed at? It was a beautiful young lady named Deandra that took a chance on me. She saw me cry at the office one day. Inquired why I was crying and offered to “see my dreams come true”. She gave me my start.
Many things have happened since that one winter day in 1994. We’ve grown to include home care, consulting and staffing to the agency. My daughter Ty now handles day to day operations. And she is doing an excellent job with the business. I’m still doing consulting, but I also am writing, launching a radio talk show and gearing up for a “How Did I Get Here” Women’s Empowerment Conference.
Great, 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?
The challenges have been without many nights of crying, praying, and a menagerie of things that could go wrong in a business. One of the “hiccups” that plagued me while operating this business has been my need to prove to people that I truly have their best interests and intentions at heart. There was a time when I chose people to manage he agency that either didn’t have the qualifications to do so. This almost caused me to lose the trust of the licensing board who issue private home care licenses to those they deem competent to provide in-home care services. Money woes had also plagued this agency.
Once I had 17 different people filing complaints in small claims court against my agency for not having funds to pay them for work they had done. This had to be one of the lowest times of my professional and business life. We have since made amends and I’ve been able to repay the monies owed to every individual.
Please tell us about Me and Nanna.
Our business is a licensed, private home care agency. We provide skilled and non-skilled services in the homes of people who desire to stay in their community as long as they possibly can without going to an institution such as a nursing home, etc. We also provide babysitting and nanny services.
We currently specialize in infants and geriatrics.
We are known for going the extra mile for our patients.
We are most proud when we can staff a patient with a professional, caring and qualified individual. The joys that are experienced when a client/patient calls the office to tell us how happy and grateful to God that they have us in their lives-PRICELESS. This is what we continuously strive to obtain.
I was raised to never tell what you do for someone in private. So I’ll just say buying groceries, praying with and for patients/clients happens on a daily and weekly basis.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite childhood memories has to be He time when I was asking my Mother for a Baby Alive Doll. I kept asking and asking. But my Mother was relentlessly saying we couldn’t afford it. I remember crying because I really wanted this doll. One day my 3rd grade teacher enticed me to write a letter to Santa Claus. So here I was, writing a letter to a man who probably would not dare come into my neighborhood, let alone bring me an expensive doll. I wrote the letter; the letter was read on the radio and I heard it. Oh, the joy I felt!!! I screamed… “he’s going to bring it! He’s going to bring it”! Would you believe it? I got my beautiful blond haired, blue eyed Baby Alive Doll.
Pricing:
- 3 Month Nanny $380
- 6-9 Month Nanny $650-1,000
- 12 Month Nanny $2880
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mynanna.com
- Phone: 678.381.1540
- Email: info@mynanna.com
- Instagram: Me And My Nanna, LLC
- Facebook: Me And My Nanna, LLC
- Twitter: Me And My Nanna, LLC
- Yelp: Me And My Nanna, LLC
- Other: Me And My Nanna, LLC
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