Sawyer partners with hundreds of educators who are stars in their communities. From inspiring class content to engaging teaching style, these educators are known for their enriching activities that empower both children and parents alike.

We got the opportunity to chat with Juliette & Ella's Play Date, which offers in-person early childhood creative music and ballet classes to children in New York City.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! I’d love to hear a bit more about you and why you started your business.

Hi! I’m Sarah Post Brummer, mom of one (Juliette) and, before I became a small business owner and teacher, I was a professional singer and actor. I performed in musicals, on cruise ships, on screen in TV shows, on national commercials, and in short films. I also toured as a back-up singer to LaLa Brooks, the original lead singer of The Crystals (“Da Doo Ron Ron”, “And Then He Kissed Me”, etc) and wrote and recorded my own EP produced by Ted Mason of Modern English (“I’ll Stop the World and Melt with You”). When I had my daughter in 2015, I made the decision to put my career on pause so I could soak up all the precious moments that come with being a new mom.  

My business partner, Maegan Woodin, is a mom of three (Ella, Carter, and Woods) and, before we started this business together, she was a professional ballerina, ballet teacher, and entrepreneur.  

We met when our babies, Juliette and Ella, were 5 months old and Maegan had the brilliant idea of starting a baby music & ballet class. 4 months later, we had our first class in my backyard on the UES for 4 adorable students. We moved our class to Central Park and by the end of the summer, we had about 20 students we saw per week. Well, it rapidly took off from there (all by word of mouth, we never advertised) and by the winter we were teaching about 200 students/week. Now, 6 years later, we have 20 teachers who teach with us and we see around 500 students/week. We also have become NYC’s top entertainment company for baby and toddler birthday parties.  

Maegan and I still teach many of our classes weekly and completely run every aspect of our business ourselves- from managing our social media pages, to answering every email and phone call, to designing all of our classes and custom birthday parties.  We absolutely LOVE what we do and LOVE our teachers and our community of families.  

Can you describe an inspiring moment you’ve had as an educator?

In 2018, 2019, & early 2020 (before the pandemic hit) we had a student, James, who has cerebral palsy. When he began taking class, he wasn’t mobile. He would sit with his adult in the back and watch class. After a few months, James began crawling through the classroom to get where he wanted to go. Other children his age were walking confidently, but James couldn’t.  His inability to walk, though, did not deter him from singing, dancing and playing with the other kids. He gained confidence and strength. I will never forget when I saw him take a few, wobbly steps on his own for the first time in class. I began to cry- I was so proud of him! I still see James every week - now walking the streets of the UES with confidence. He lives just 1 block away from me, and I am so impressed by his strength and resilience. He is one of the most inspiring people I have ever met in my life.  

What’s the most rewarding thing about teaching children?

We are so fortunate to have students who stay with us for years and, when they have younger siblings who are born, we are fortunate to have them as students, too.  Working with children ages 0-4 years is simply magical because we get to see so many milestones happen in class. We have seen so many first time waves, hands clapping, animal sounds, first time crawling, first steps, first words in class. Every time it happens, the joy from the parent yelling out “she’s walking” or “he’s clapping” is just so exciting and beautiful to experience.  We are so lucky to be able to be a part of our student’s development. I always think of the song “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and my eyes start to tear up.  

“I hear babies cry. I watch them grow. They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know, and I think to myself - what a wonderful world”. This is what we do. We meet some of our students when they can’t even sit up on their own. We see them learn to shake a shaker, crawl , babble, walk, talk, jump and eventually leap! We watch them develop and grow, and it is the most rewarding experience.  

What’s one time a child surprised you and made your day? 

In 2019, I had a class of 25 students and my co-teacher was sick and couldn’t come to teach that day. I had to teach the class on my own. There was a little girl named Eden in class that day. Eden was 2 years old and had been coming to class since she was 6 months old. When class began, she saw me alone, and came to the front of the classroom and proceeded to teach the entire class with me. She helped me pass out and collect shakers and scarves. She did every single dance move. She even sang. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced and I will never forget that day a 2 year old came to my rescue and helped me when I really needed help.  

On a similar note, what’s the funniest thing a child has done in your class? 

One of our teachers, Sarah Sherman Barrera, is an incredibly talented professional opera singer. At the end of her classes, she performs a beautiful aria while the other teacher fills the park with bubbles. It is a breathtaking experience. Sarah was filling in at Carl Schurz Park one day for a sick teacher, and, at the end of class, she performed her aria. This group of students had never heard her perform, because she was a sub and not their usual teacher. Every student and every adult stood silently in awe while she sang. When she finished her aria, everyone in the park began clapping and cheering. One little boy, who was maybe 2 years old, had been watching her performance in the front row. He saw everyone cheering for Sarah and proceeded to turn towards the crowd and imitate her performance. He opened his mouth and let out a long, bloodcurdling scream. In his mind, he was singing opera. Everyone burst into laughter! It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my entire life. The best part is, the little boy’s father was filming at the time and caught it all on camera. 

Why are early &  after school enrichment programs so important for children?

Early enrichment and after school enrichment is incredibly important for children. Most of our students are babies or toddlers. Our classes provide a place for them to socialize and interact with other babies and toddlers and children. I say it often in class, babies and toddlers learn more by watching other babies, toddlers and older kids, than they learn from watching us adults. We bring families and children together and, yes, we provide a class that is full of singing and dancing, but our class is also cleverly designed to encourage milestones. We also incorporate ASL (American Sign Language) into every class. Teaching your little one basic signs as a baby is a great tool and really does help in those early toddler years where children often have strong emotions but also don’t have the verbal skills to express themselves yet. Our daughters, Juliette and Ella, are 7 years old now and still ask us to teach them new signs in ASL. Signing is very intuitive and kids really do love learning it.  

How do you think children can discover their passions when they’re not in school or your programs?

When children are given the opportunity to explore, they are given the opportunity to grow. Whether that is going to a free concert, or wandering through a public park, or playing make believe with a friend or family member. When you see your child has an interest  in something, pay attention and encourage them to explore that interest. 

What is your favorite Sawyer feature?

We love how clear our schedule looks on Sawyer and how easy it is to change class times, teachers, location, etc once it is posted. Before using Sawyer we would update the schedule on a spreadsheet and text everyone their schedule the week before and any changes made we would have to notify them via text. There was always confusion and mistakes happened. Now teachers can easily see their schedule, who they are teaching with, and the names of the students coming to their class. 

What's one trick you learned from another educator that you still practice?

We are friendly with all of the BEST music/dance programs for babies/toddler/young children here in NYC (Mozart for Munchkins, Ramblin’ Dan, Pixie Pods, Fiddle Foxes,  etc) and we love working with them and seeing them at various events here in NYC. The best thing we’ve learned from these other programs and educators is to always be adaptable. When the pandemic hit and our in person programming came to a sudden halt, we Zoomed with and talked to many other educators about how we could continue to reach our students. We all figured out how to evolve into online programming by talking to and watching one another. When we returned to in-person classes in July 2020, outside in Central Park instead of our studios, we got advice on the best locations to teach and how to adapt to a class that safely social distanced. We all learned to adapt together and supported one another and we all cam out stronger because of it.  

Have you discovered new customers on the Sawyer marketplace?

Yes! We absolutely have. We love the platform.  

How do you balance your time between running your business (from an operational perspective) and teaching/connecting with parents and students?

Well, not only do we balance running our business (from an operational perspective), teach 5 days/week, train/rehearse and manage our 20 teachers, connect and spend time with our students and their families, and run all of our own social media BUT we are also full-time moms. We drop off our kids at school every morning, and pick them up from school every day. We help them with school work and reading assignments. We take them to gymnastic classes, and piano/violin lessons and social activities. So, how do we do it all? We are great business partners who are also best friends. When one of us is struggling or getting overwhelmed, the other one steps up and takes over the business responsibilities. We also often stay up until midnight answering emails or making playlists for birthday parties and classes, but we truly LOVE what we do. So, we do work hard. We work hard at making our business the best it can be.  We work hard on being great moms and spending time with our beautiful families. We work hard on making self care a priority so we don’t get burnt out.  We are so lucky to be business partners and really love and respect one another the way we do! It makes running our business fun and truly a positive part of our daily life.

How has Sawyer helped your business? 

We get the majority of our bookings from Sawyer and it's the only way clients can book from our website.  It’s very user friendly and has so many features that we need as a small business. It’s helped in so many ways, from scheduling to client lists and banking. We love it.