It Girl is a Women in Business feature highlighting the NextGen of female entrepreneurs
By Skyler Obispo
Maelonie “Lani” Tamondong
Realtor, vice president of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce, entrepreneur, and mother of five, Maelonie “Lani” Tamondong is this issue’s IT Girl.
Tamondong is the owner of the Giving Tree Early Learning Center and the Helping Hands Adult Daycare. Named after the book of the same name by Shel Silverstein, she was inspired to open the Giving Tree after experiencing daycare with her first son. Her vision was to offer a more enriching learning experience to children.
Tamondong opened the first Giving Tree location in 2016 and steadily opened more locations to meet the demand of parents looking for daycare.
She says that one of the important factors that makes the Giving Tree standout from other care centers is its curriculum, which departs from the traditional classroom approach to learning. Instead it focuses on play-based learning, enabling the child to learn from hands-on experiences.
Tamondong also wanted to make sure that the family was always in the loop with their child’s learning and development.
“A lot of daycares weren’t really giving information to families [about] what exactly was going on throughout the day with their children,” Tamondong says.
She created a communication log between the parents and the daycare to update them on how their child was doing. Now they use an app to give live updates on the child’s activities throughout the day.
“They could see their children learning throughout the day. They can see pictures of their kids. They can see videos of their kids. They can see what book they just read,” she said. “[The parents] are kind of just always connected.”
The Giving tree currently has three other locations located in Yigo, Tumon, and Dededo. The Helping Hands Adult Daycare in Harmon will close and be relocated to the intergenerational daycare upon its opening.
The next step for Tamondong and the Giving Tree is the opening of the The Giving Tree Intergenerational Daycare. Located in Barrigada, this expansion will be the island’s first intergenerational care center, which will combine the services of both a child and adult social daycare.
The goal for this new location is to emulate the family environment and promote supervised intergenerational activities between the young and old participants. According to Tamondong, this interaction is mutually beneficial for both groups.
“Children love being around their grandparents. Grandparents love being around their grandchildren. So that kind of dynamic in this center is kind of what we’re looking at,” she said.
She told the magazine that the children will get the opportunity to understand the aging process and learn from experiences of the older participants and it gives the older participants purpose and a feeling of belonging.
The facility has shared areas for both the children and elderly to interact as well as having individual wings for each group tailored to their unique needs. In addition, the layout is intentionally designed to promote interactivity. There are no doors dividing the child care wing from the adult care. Also, there are rails on the windows looking into the classrooms for adult participants to use if they want to observe the classrooms.
Tamondong’s advice for the aspiring woman entrepreneur is to follow through with the ideas they are passionate about.
“A lot of the times, if it feels scary, then it’s worth it,” she said. “Nothing really grows in your comfort zone, so if you’re looking for growth or you’re looking for making something bigger and contributing something bigger, just go for it.”
The intergenerational daycare is planned to open in September following open houses to the public. At the time of print, there are 47 children on the waiting list to get in.
The Giving Tree accepts children of 3 months old to 10 years old and adults of 60 years of age and above with no special medical requirements.
Those looking to register a family member can email [email protected] or call (671) 638-2273.
