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Ep. 37: Jocelyn Greene Builds an Empire Based on Child's Play

"You don’t need a degree in acting to get involved, just a willingness to jump in and play.​"

Jocelyn Greene is the founder and Executive Director of Child's Play NY, which teaches New York children acting, creativity and compassion. She also is the creator of Child's Play in Action, a new video series that extends Jocelyn's expertise to all. Jocelyn believes that "in order to create thriving children and successful humans, we just need to be playing more," and numerous recent studies agree. Listen for Jocelyn's motivational story of building a successful business "cobblestone by cobblestone".

"Open up pockets of playfulness."

We talk about how she started Child's Play NY, going deeper into the things you love, the importance of play for children's development, how important the release into creative play is for both kids and adults, how the skills she developed as an actor have helped her in business, how meaningful the little moments in her career have been, the time for saying no and the time for saying yes, taking the time to find your joy, prioritizing the things that make you happy, using the support of the people around you, sharing your passion and joy through your business, how delegating has allowed her to grow her business, and what's next for her.

"When you examine your life ask yourself, 'Am I feeling that joy? Am I happy and fulfilled?' When you do take that step and find those things that are the more rotten limbs of your life or the extra stuff that's holdover from a time you thought you were going to go somewhere and be something else, to just do your part to cut it away."

What you'll learn:

  • Jocelyn is the founder and executive director of Child's Play NY.
  • She is also the creator of Child's Play In Action.
  • Jocelyn studied acting at NYU and developed Child's Play NY in 2009.
  • When she graduated she worked as a teacher and realized she wanted to continue this work and have more impact.
  • The Childs Play NY program is in 12 schools and employs 25 teaching artists.
  • Childs Play In Action is a similar program but it works online to extend the reach beyond NY and help parents directly.
  • Childs Play In Action is a video series released each week that uses theater games to teach children important life skills.
  • These games can be used by parents as a resource for a rainy day or spare 15 minutes.
  • Childs Play In Action is for parents who can’t afford the Childs Play NY classes but want to have an impact.
  • Play is important for children’s brain development.
  • Jocelyn worked with two developmental psychologists when creating the video series.
  • The videos and program are aimed at children between the ages of 3 and 11.
  • The upper age limit is creeping up as Jocelyn’s first cohorts grow up, so she’s extended classes with Romeo and Juliet or The Crucible.
  • After graduation, Jocelyn worked doing theater outreach with at-risk kids which is when she realized what impact theater work can have.
  • Jocelyn said her “made it” moment is whenever a new school calls or a new parent signs up online.
  • These games are also important for the parents as it teaches the “yes and” style of improvisation to take them out of the daily grind.
  • Add these small games into your routine to enact part of your daily joy.
  • B-school is a good resource for women who want to learn more about how to run their business, e.g. How to market yourself, How to find clients etc.

Advice:

  • Prioritize yourself
  • Evaluate your life and find the bits that aren’t helping you grown and cut them out.
  • Collect people around you who support your dream.
  • Delegate tasks.
  • Find useful systems that can help you organize yourself and stay accountable, for example Vox, Google apps, and calendars.
  • Keep learning, either self-taught or online courses.
  • Know what you don't want.

Learn more:

  • http://www.childsplayinaction.com/​
  • http://childsplayny.com/