In our continuing series spotlighting your INA Board Of Directors, we are getting to know a little more about Tonya Sakowicz. As a member of the Board, she along with the other Board Members work to support our association and industry. 
What is your board member position?
1st Vice President
What is your job?
I own Newborn Care Solutions, a training company for those wishing to have advanced level Newborn skills, either as an NCS or nanny and for agencies to ensure consistent, quality education for those working with newborns.
What brought you to the nanny industry?
I have always been a baby person, taking care of my first newborn as an 11-year-old babysitter. I took a live-in nanny job as a college Sophomore to help pay for housing expenses in college. I have been working in the industry ever since!
What brought you to the INA?
An interest in high standards and education for our industry.
What do you find most beneficial about the INA?
The MEMBERS! What an amazing source of dedicated, amazing people that help better the in-home childcare industry. I love our members and all that they offer to each other, but most importantly to the families we all serve.
What you feel you bring to the INA?
I bring a dedication to excellence in education, integrity, and setting high standards as well as an enthusiasm for something I find so highly important—the excellent care of children.
What is something you have accomplished while on the board that you are proud of?
I am proud of our current and past Boards as they have worked hard to help streamline the process of getting member ideas and benefits brought to the Board and when financially and logistically feasible, then brought onto the membership. Our Board is made up of such dedicated, amazing individuals. I am also proud of the fact that I have been a key person, along with several others and the support of the INA, to help literally define an entire segment of our industry, the Newborn Care Specialist.
Do you have a message you’d like to share INA members and the nanny industry community at large?
I would really like to see more members be active in speaking out AND stepping up—speaking out in support of our industry, speaking out in support of excellence and professionalism in care, speaking out against those who would bully and intimidate (because it sadly happens a LOT in the nanny industry) and be speaking out in support of ongoing education. And to step up in support of all these things in whatever way works for your life. Having great ideas is wonderful, but without hands to complete them, those ideas rarely come to fruition—in short, to any nanny who thinks they “don’t need to learn anything new” I would say, the day you stop learning is the day you stop truly living. And to those with great ideas—we need your help to actually make them happen!