Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Principal JL is an educational leader who explores various topics facing educational leaders today! The Mission of this podcast is to inform and inspire other Educational Leaders on how to be their best for their Schools by honing their skills and talents so they may impact their teachers, staff members, students, parents/guardians, and community members positively for their School District! Come with a Growth Mindset as we journey through Educational Leadership!
Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Episode 42: Seen, Heard, Valued: The Leadership Journey of Jayme Braida, Iowa’s 2025 Elementary Principal of the Year
What if the most powerful leadership quality isn't perfection, but authentic vulnerability? Jayme Braida, Iowa's Elementary Principal of the Year and National Distinguished Principal, demonstrates how embracing imperfection revolutionized her approach to educational leadership.
Jayme's journey didn't follow a straight path. She "stumbled upon education" after changing majors multiple times in college, yet found herself naturally drawn to leadership roles. Her transformation from struggling classroom manager to award-winning principal hinged on one crucial realization: relationships matter more than rules. After traditional behavior management techniques failed with a challenging class, Jayme discovered that connecting with students personally was the missing ingredient to success.
This philosophy – creating environments where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued – now defines her leadership approach. "A culture can only rise higher than the leader you're becoming," Jayme explains, emphasizing how her own childhood experiences with trauma shaped her commitment to creating safe, welcoming spaces for all students and staff. From dancing on the front lawn with students each morning to openly acknowledging when personal struggles affect her work, Jamie models the vulnerability she hopes to see in her school community.
What makes Jayme's message particularly powerful is her willingness to share her full humanity. When facing divorce, a community member told her, "You can't get divorced. You are leading a school." This unrealistic expectation motivated Jayme to champion authenticity in leadership. Her upcoming book "Seen, Heard, Valued: One Child's Journey from Overlooked to Outstanding" explores how personal challenges prepared her for leadership and shaped her values.
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Do you show up to your role as an educational leader in a way that is unfiltered and authentic? Well, that is exactly what my next guest, Jayme Braida, does. She is an elementary principal with 18 years of experience in education, including 8 years in administration administration. This year she was named the Iowa Elementary Principal of the Year and recognized as a National Distinguished Principal. Jayme is passionate about trauma-informed leadership, equity and creating school cultures where students and staff members feel seen, heard and valued. Her journey from fourth grade teacher to literacy coach and now principal is truly inspiring. Now let's get to our conversation with Jayme Braida. Welcome back to another episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast. Today I'm really excited. I have an elementary principal of the year from Iowa. I know it's Iowa, but, being from Nebraska, we have this little rivalry Her name is Jayme Braida. Jayme, welcome to the show.
Jayme Braida:Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Principal JL:All right, Jayme, I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to start you off, like I do every guest to the show. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. All right, Jayme, I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to start you off, like I do every guest on this show. What inspired you to become an educator?
Jayme Braida:Yeah, that's a great question. I don't know if you get this a lot from other people, but I never wanted to be an educator. I never wanted to be a teacher. I don't know really what I wanted to be growing up. I went off to college and I was one of those.
Jayme Braida:I changed my major three or four times and my senior year I was sitting here thinking I've got to do something and so I worked at a daycare and decided I like kids. So I kind of stumbled upon education and then went into teaching, liked it quite a bit. But you know, it's strange because early on I wanted to take on leadership roles and just loved helping people, help kids, and so just did different things with leadership. Really it's funny because 18 years into it I look back to my childhood and it just seems like everything that happened maybe to me, everything that I went through, my journey, it all I know it was just ordained Like God's plan was to put me where I am right now and where I've been, and just seeing the impact that I've had on lives, and I just know that there's a purpose for the journey.
Principal JL:Yeah, no, you kind of hit on some things there, Jayme. I think anybody that gets in this profession. You get where you're supposed to be. It doesn't happen by accident. There's positions and openings and things like that. You start your career where you're supposed to be and you end up where you're supposed to be because I believe there is a plan for you, for you. However, you guys believe this. If you believe it's God's plan or Buddha's plan or whoever's plan, you know there's always that plan out there to where you know you're in the right space when you're there. So, jamie, talk about teaching, kind of like. You know, I believe you're an elementary teacher. What grade levels did you teach? You know what experiences as a teacher help prepare you to become a educational leader or a principal.
Jayme Braida:Yeah. So I kind of thought about this. I figured you'd ask something similar but so much of, I think, what has prepared me for what I'm doing right now were things that happened in my childhood, through adolescence, through teaching, just my entire journey. It's just a connection between those seasons and you know, I spent the entire summer, this summer writing a book, okay, and it's kind of a memoir, and every chapter features leadership lessons at the end and it really made me think back on. You know, what was it about teaching that shaped who I am as a leader? What was it about my childhood? And truly, like, all the experiences, all the people that poured into me, the things that were said, the events, the moments, those have tremendously shaped who I am as a leader. But they've also shaped my values and I think you know your values drive your actions and things like that. You know it's just a culmination of all the things.
Jayme Braida:So, specifically talking teaching, you know I wasn't a great teacher out of the gate. I don't think. I think I was pretty good. I, you know, was jumping into all these different leadership roles. I was a great collaborator. I was all into technology 18 years ago technology 18 years ago but as far as behavior classroom management, I didn't quite get it. I had everything ready. I had my clip charts, you know all those things. I had read the books and I was ready with my discipline plan and the first three years were pretty easy. I didn't really have any challenging behaviors.
Jayme Braida:My fourth year I moved to Osco's Elementary. It was the biggest elementary in the state and might still be the biggest elementary in the state, and I had a class that was very challenging, a lot of students with behavior plans. And my old methods didn't work, like the clip chart didn't work, the check marks on the board didn't work. So anyway, the behaviorism, the rewards and consequences, it just wasn't working. And so by the end of the year I was just burnt out. I was going to leave teaching.
Jayme Braida:The principal said what do you want me to do? And I said get such and such out of my room. I cannot handle her. She is so difficult. You know it's like one of those kids that you know the whole dynamics kind of change when the kid's gone. You're like, oh, not that you don't love all your kids, but just very challenging. She and he ended up moving her. So the last two weeks of school she was in a different classroom next door to mine and I walked by and just see her coloring and sitting up by the teacher and I would, and I'd ask that teacher, how's she doing in your room? She's like, oh, she's perfect for me. And I was so mad because I'm like, of course she's perfect for you. You're not making her do anything, you've lowered your expectations, so on and so forth. Well, fast forward.
Jayme Braida:That summer I went to Capturing Kids' Hearts training. If you've ever gone through that, it's just a whole, it's not just a bunch of strategies and tools, it's a philosophy, kind of. You know, we have to capture kids' hearts before we can have their heads. It transformed everything for me and it made me reflect on that entire time that year and how behaviors. It wasn't about the discipline and the rewards and consequences, it was that I wasn't forming relationships and making connections with kids. And then I thought back on the teacher next door who happens to be one of my best friends and mentors. Now. I sat with her and I said I'm sorry, I didn't realize what you were doing. You were making connections with that student, and so that has just transformed my thinking. I'd become the kind of leader and I was the kind of teacher and the kind of leader that I needed growing up, and so that would probably be kind of my biggest leadership takeaway from teaching.
Principal JL:You bet. I mean there's a lot of things you unpacked there. Jamie, you talked about something that's really important relationships. If you think you can do this job without building relationships, I say good luck, because you got to build those relationships in order for these kids to be successful relationships in order for these kids to be successful. So I think you know, I applaud you on being able to, you know, take a step back and reflect on that and be able to say you know what? This is something I can get better at. I can learn and grow and become a better teacher, but also become, you know, a better leader because of it, and I really appreciate that.
Principal JL:So you talked about a book you were writing. Is that like embargoed information? Is this something we can't talk about, or is this something we could maybe let people know? You know about your book. So I'd really like to talk a little bit about the book and maybe kind of you know what is it about? What can it do for people? But you know, is it out yet? Is it? You know? Is it on the? What can it do for people? But you know, is it out yet? Is it? You know? Is it on the shelves or is something that's coming?
Jayme Braida:Yeah. So it's not out yet. I'm not even sure. I've never wrote a book. You know, I don't know how to. I'm going to figure out how to self-publish or whatever I need to do. So it's not quite out yet. I'm thinking maybe fall, but it is finished with some minor edits that need to be made.
Jayme Braida:But again, it starts with my childhood and goes all the way through the current time, really just talks about every season of my life, the events, the people, the things that happened to me. I grew up with some trauma, so I talk a lot about the trauma. You know I grew up with some trauma, so I talk a lot about the trauma. But everything that happened shaped who I am as a mom, as a partner, as a leader, and so there is something to be vulnerable and share those things authentically. We can show up better for people, we can give space for them to show up as their true selves.
Jayme Braida:And I also think that it's through, like thinking back on my story, my experiences and going through these leadership lessons, and as I was writing I started to realize like all these things have shaped my values. I value connections because people connected with me. You know. I value relationships because I needed relationships desperately and I needed to be seen, and that's actually the title of the book is Seen, heard, valued, because that's what kids and staff need. And so my message throughout the book has to do with connections, relationships, seeing people, showing up not perfectly, because again kind of another underlying theme is being imperfect and just showing up as your true self. It's more about less about having all the answers and being perfect and more about showing up with intention so that you can connect and lead others well.
Principal JL:Wow, I think that's going to be something people are going to want to get and so I think coming up. I'll follow you on Instagram so I'm pretty sure you'll have some sort of reveal maybe coming up and I'll definitely share that out to my audience when that time comes as well. And then, when it does come out, I'll probably link it to the show notes here so people when they hear this episode can can find your book easily. So I want to put that in there, but at the same time, this coming down the road people. So, with that said, you came, did you go from teacher to the literacy instructional coach or did you kind of do do both at the same time? Tell me about that journey when you were doing the literacy instructional coaching, because I believe you had that before you became a principal. What was that experience like?
Jayme Braida:Yeah, so I had taught for about 10 years and I had only taught fourth, fifth and sixth grade, so upper elementary. I knew I wanted to kind of diversify experiences, get down to the lower elementary level and so there was an opening for K-2, k-2 instructional literacy coach and I knew nothing about phonics and phonemic awareness like zero zilch. So it's terrifying, but I knew if I was going to go lead a building I wanted to have some knowledge and background in foundational literacy. So I became that instructional coach and did that for a year and that was amazing. I think that's a great pathway If principals are, if aspiring administrators are thinking about getting into administration, going into a coaching role first. It was so helpful so I did that for a year and then got my first principal job.
Principal JL:You bet. With that said, it sounds like you're kind of building your career. At first you didn't know what you wanted to do. I was kind of the same way. I actually went to college to be a physical therapist and then I found coaching football as my gig and that's got me in the education. But then you know, becoming a teacher, learning and growing through that process and then the instructional coaching, which is great because that's a good segue into being a principal. So what inspired you to come on over to be a principal? What was that like? Was it a tap on the shoulder? Was it encouragement? Was it like it's time for me to do this? What was that experience like when you decided that I'm going to go down this journey and become a principal of a school building?
Jayme Braida:And so I had a principal in college.
Jayme Braida:Well, she was a former school principal turned professor, and I don't know what it is, but I've had two super impactful educators in my life, who one was a fifth grade teacher and I became a fifth grade teacher, and the other one was this professor who was a former principal and I became a principal.
Jayme Braida:And I remember thinking in my class, as she formed a really good relationship with me, I thought to myself man, when I get out of here I'm going to be a principal because I bet she was an amazing principal and I want to be like her. And then you get into teaching and I had all these opportunities in both the districts that I'm taught in to just take leadership roles, and I love that. I love helping teachers, I love serving others, I loved getting to learn new things in that role and then share what I learned with others. And so I knew immediately I think I probably knew when I got my first job I want to be a principal someday. Of course, I waited a little bit and then went. I had young kids at the time and so you know, I just knew right away.
Principal JL:And so did you have to apply to a lot of different positions. What was the journey like? Just be going through the interview process and get in your first principal shift? How did that process go for you? And, and you know what was what, what was it like to actually get that offer?
Jayme Braida:And what was it like to actually get that offer? Yeah, so I applied for about two years before I even got an interview. I do think that coaching position looked good on my resume. I think that might have helped a little bit. I know I was applying for a lot of these bigger school districts in the city in Des Moines and I think they're looking for either they kind of grow their own administrators or they're looking for people with some experience. And then, of course, I have kids and so my radius was a little bit limited because I didn't want to move too far from where we were living and move school districts. So it took me about two years.
Principal JL:I got my first interview and got the job. So I think overall, I think you kind of hit on something like you'll probably apply for more jobs and you'll get interviews. That's a fact, I know. Sometimes you have to be willing to move your family and sound like in your position like that probably wasn't a great great thing for you, so you had to be patient. So I really applaud that. You know, taking two years of apply and then once you had your opportunity, you, you, you nailed it and were able to get that position.
Principal JL:I know for myself it took me eight times before I got my first principal ship, but each interview led me to the next thing, and so that that's kind of like my journey when I became a principal. Then, once you become a principal, it's easier to stay a principal at other places because of your experience. Jayme, you kind of accomplished something this past year, that kind of get to be in this fraternity or sorority of principals. You became the Iowa Elementary Principal of the Year. So I'd really like to know how did you find out you were the Elementary Principal of the Year for Iowa?
Jayme Braida:So I knew that some people had nominated me. Then it got down. It was almost like a year-long process. It got down to me. Then it got down it was almost like a year-long process. It got down to, I think, eight of us and so from there they notified us and we had to fill out quite a lengthy application process with letters and essays and different things, and it was narrowed down to four. This would have been in maybe February, march, and with the four of us they did online interviews. So there were a group of my peers who interviewed me. It's very similar to this situation and the very next day one of the principals who was interviewing me Heather Buckley she was also a principal of the year a few years ago she called me and she said you know, oh my gosh, we loved your story, because of course I share a lot of my story and my journey and I thought, oh, it's the letdown, she's got it.
Jayme Braida:Oh, we loved your story. But and she said, we'd love you to represent Iowa as the next elementary preschool. And I was like, oh, I still get like teary thinking about it. So, anyway, that's how that went, and of course I had to get on the phone with my boss, brad Baker, and I called him and said guess who's the principal of the year? Yay, so there's a big celebration, you know. And then after that came National Distinguished Principal. So I received that a few months later. So just a lot of great cool things happening.
Principal JL:Were you able to attend the? For you it'd be the NAESP conference out in Seattle.
Jayme Braida:I did not attend that. However, the secondary administrators were recognized at that conference, the elementary distinguished principals. We actually are going to Washington DC in October, okay, and so they fly us out there and we have a big ball and basically a two-day conference. They're just kind of celebrate us and then to network and do different things.
Principal JL:So congratulations on that, that's. That's great. You'll be, you know, yeah, so with with that being the elementary principal of the year for Iowa, you know what does this mean for you personally and professionally.
Jayme Braida:Sure. So when I it was my first year as a principal the email came to all of us and it said nominate the principal of the year. And I looked at my very good friend who was also a principal and I said I'm going to be elementary principal of the year someday and it was just this big out there dream. But I was like I'm going to do it because I'm just going to make, I'm just going to be awesome at what I do. So I've tried to do that and I'm just so humbled that that eight year eight I finally get to achieve that Some kind of something I just put out in the universe Now I get to do to achieve that.
Jayme Braida:So it's surreal, it's humbling, it means so much both personally and professionally. It just feels like a culmination of my story from childhood to adulthood. Like I said, the book Seen Heard Valued there's kind of a subtitle which is One Child's Journey from Overlooked to Outstanding. It's a story of survival, hope and the power of leadership. The award just reminds me so much of why this work matters, why we show up for kids and staff every single day, and it's just kind of a testament to that and what this is all about.
Principal JL:Awesome. So what doors have opened for you since being named the Principal of the Year?
Jayme Braida:So I've had a lot of people just reach out and tell me congratulations, which is cool.
Jayme Braida:Those, to me, I see as little doors of opportunity to start forming relationships with people, because you never know who's going to help you out on your journey, which has been really cool. Getting to make Instagram posts with people I run into at conferences, you know, running into some speakers and just I think when they hear, oh, there's the principle of the ear, it's like, oh, their ears might perk up, you know, or hey, maybe we could connect with one another. So that's been really cool. But I think for me, the whole entire principle of the year, the biggest thing for me, is that it was a catalyst for me to have the courage to step into this new, the courage to step into this new I don't know step into this new chapter which is doing podcasts and writing my book. I probably would not have got that ball rolling Someday. I may have, but like, I feel like I'm ready and I could use this as an opportunity to really do that and make it bigger.
Principal JL:I think that's great. I think creating a bigger impact is definitely right in the DNA of principles of the year, because I know a few people I'm not there yet, maybe someday I don't know but my whole podcast is just to highlight people and all the great things you do. As a Principal, what is something that you have done that you're really excited about or you're proud of in your leadership over the last you know seven to eight years as being a principal? What is something that you know? You really say you know what that that is. You know why I do what I do. That's the kind of impact I want to have on my building and my students and my teachers you have any stories about, you know along those lines.
Jayme Braida:Yeah. So I think what a lot of my friends and my educator friends know me for is for someone who creates cultures where everyone feels seen, valued, seen, heard and valued From the custodial staff to the teachers, the paras and the kids and their families. Like I said, I'm very like, imperfect, I'm unfiltered. I just show up. Sometimes I curl my hair in the office. I did not find that. I mean, I I wear tennis shoes and I don't like.
Jayme Braida:What you see is what you get and I don't know all the answers and I will admit that a lot. I don't know the answer to that, but I will show up with intention around connections and making sure that you know I'm leading people well and so that's true for my leadership and how I make people and everyone feel. But I also feel like when we talk about a culture, well, first of all, I believe that a culture can only rise higher than the leader you're becoming. I'm continuously trying to be the best leader that I can be, but when I think about my culture and my staff my staff also they do such a good job of making every child feel seen, heard and valued. I'm so proud of how my staff and the staffs that I've led.
Jayme Braida:You know, we we are done with the clip charts. We're about relationships, we're about connecting, we're about meeting kids, not just their physical needs, cause there's a lot of needs at the K2 level, a lot of hungry kids coming in, tired kids especially. You're in the first week of school, everybody. Well, you got high school, though, so I hope you don't have a lot of coach.
Principal JL:Oh, we got needs trust. We have a lot of needs. We do serve a large free and reduced population in our community and so we have families from all walks of life and all different social economic backgrounds. So, yeah, we do have a lot of students with needs. Like you said, it's about building those connections, creating that welcoming environment in your building, because sometimes that's probably the best place those students are at during the day. Their home lives may be a wreck. They may not have the support at home as they would at the school. So trying to create that environment for all students and all staff I know for me is really important because I'm really big on creating that culture and it sounds like you're kind of in that same boat. You want to create that culture for your staff and your students to learn. So because if they don't have that they're not going to learn, and it's kind of been my philosophy as well. So I think you know, I think we're seeing eye to eye on those things on that end. Yes, sorry if we, you know, interrupted everything there, but building culture, making people feel welcomed and those things like that what I know you've been.
Principal JL:I want to go to this now. Come back to this, that question but I want to talk about maybe. You're doing some stuff on IG. You talk about being imperfect. I've seen some of your videos and some of the things like hey, I am who I am. I'm not a perfect person. So what kind of inspired you to kind of put out those different Instagram posts about your perspectives and being imperfect? And hey, I don't have all the answers, but I'm going to darn it, I'm going to try hard so what inspired you to do those type of posts on Instagram.
Jayme Braida:I am myself in leadership. I'm very authentic, I'm very imperfect and unfiltered, and so I want to show up to my Instagram friends the same way I want to show up imperfect. I want to show up unfiltered because we need leaders who are willing to lead courageously as themselves, and too many leaders are leaving the profession too many good leaders because it's very, very hard and I feel like they can't feel like they can show up as their true self. You know, I went through a divorce a few years ago, very stressful, and I had a person I won't say specifically her role because I think that'd give it away but I had a person in my school community who told me you can't get divorced. You are leading a school, you have to keep your family unit together, and that was.
Jayme Braida:I don't think she had bad intentions, but it hurt so much and you know it made me think you know all the things that I struggle with. I can't bring that as a leader. I have to keep that separate, compartmentalized. I can't bring that into the leadership space and that's just simply not true. We're humans. We have to show up.
Jayme Braida:That doesn't mean I went to work every day and I fell apart or I missed a bunch of work because I was going through tough times, but I think it was okay for me to show up and say, hey, guys, give me some grace today. The divorce has been really tough or we all are dealing with stuff. A lot of administrators are parents and, wow, I've gone through some things with my kids, like you know mental health stuff. I have teachers that have kids with mental health things and when we show up as ourselves and can share some of those things and be ourselves, we invite others to do that as well. That's a part of seeing, hearing, hearing and valuing people is showing up as our true selves so they can show up as theirs. So I just want to spread that message to lots of leaders.
Principal JL:I can get on board with that message, jamie, because I'll be honest, I've been and divorced myself been a long, lot longer than just the last couple of years but it is a very tough thing to go through as an adult, especially when you have kids involved, and it's not an easy thing. So I'm glad you came out on the other side of it in really good shape and things are going well. But I think you mentioned something there that's really important is asking people for grace, say, hey, you know what, I'm having a bad time, you're being authentic, you're being who you are and saying, hey, I may not have it together today, but give me some grace, we'll work through together and we'll get through the day and do what we got to do. But there's just those times in leadership. You got to be able to say those things to your staff and they can see the real who you are, because we are people, we are human, we have emotions. We have to be able to take care of ourselves, so we could take care of the people in our building as well.
Principal JL:So I think you kind of hit on a very important message there and I think it's great that you want to share that message. You got this book that's coming out. You're all over IG, you know, with it and I think for me, I'm going to help you spread that. I'm going to share your stuff and let people know as much as possible, because I think if we work together within our platforms, we can really get that message out, because we can't do this alone as well. So now I'm going to go back to a question I would like to ask is about inspiring leaders. We have a lot of people that listen to this podcast that are thinking about that next step. They're thinking about, you know, leaving the classroom and becoming an administrator. So what advice would you give to aspiring leaders out there?
Jayme Braida:Do I just let a class actually with the school administrative of Iowa to let a session on for brand new principles on how to build that culture from day one. So I'm going to go back to that a little bit. Before you step into the role, there's a little bit of a season of preparation. I don't think there's. People focus on the checklist of all the things I need to show up perfect, I need to have the perfect back to school bash. I actually did. I had read Teach Like a Pirate so I'd build a pirate ship in the library. Yeah, that was cool, that was fun.
Jayme Braida:I got some good pictures for my Instagram for the brevity of the role and preparing myself, just reflecting on what kind of leader I want to be, reflecting on my values, all those things so that I could show up with intention on day one. What kind of culture do I want? What kind of actions and values am I going to have to hold to create that kind of culture that I want? So just a lot of reflecting, because it is hard work and when we have to make tough decisions, we have to know where we stand and if we don't have our values kind of secure, we have a reflection on that. It's hard to say when there's a tough decision what way you're going to go. So I would say do some preparation, work and again, leading by example. I have a lead acronym, you know leading by example. Embrace your story, align your actions and do the work. So you know we can be imperfect, we don't have to have all the answers, but we have to show up and just try our best to lead by example. Be authentically with intention.
Principal JL:I think that's great advice, Jayme, for those out there that are seeking that principalship job down the road is to be your authentic self and you know what you get into. That principalship you ain't going to have the answers. You know, there wasn't a lot of preparation. You had your college courses, you did all that, but no one ever tells you the hard stuff. They don't really prepare you for the reality of the role, and that's kind of why it's important for us to have different networking and being able to go to different resources, such as several podcasts out there that are on educational leadership not just this one, but there's other ones out there. So having some sort of professional development for yourself so you can become better as well, so you can do the role well.
Jayme Braida:Yeah, and you said you know connecting learning from others Truly. Again, going back, I know it sounds like a broken record here, but you don't have to have all the answers. I learned that as an instructional coach when I went down to K2 literacy I knew nothing, but I didn't do all this prep work to learn all the content. I showed up. I told them I know this is new, I don't know a lot about foundational literacy, but I want to learn from you. They become an elementary principal. They can't possibly spend their summer learning all about the things they need to know about an elementary teaching and phonics and all that stuff. But if they show up and are honest with their staff about what they need to learn and they're willing to learn and grow, they don't have to have all the answers. That will go a very long way and we have a lot of great staff members. I have teachers in my building that I still learn from every single day.
Principal JL:Yeah, I mean me too. I mean I'm only in my eighth year as a principal and there's some staff member that like, hey, mr Lennon, maybe think through some things, and usually I do a pretty good job of that. But it is nice to have those veterans staff looking out for you and people you can learn from as well. Talked about a lot of things today. Jayme. You know what's next for you. What do you see? What's coming up? You got a book coming out, got that down. But what are some things that get you excited about the future for yourself in the profession?
Jayme Braida:Well, like I mentioned earlier, I just finished my book, so I'm hoping to publish it sometime this fall. I truly love what I do as an elementary principal, and so I can see myself staying right where I'm at my district's awesome, my team's awesome, my staff's awesome. I really want to stay in that role for a while longer, but at the same time, I really do want to get my message out there. I do feel like I have a greater calling Not that principalship isn't an amazing calling, because it has been my calling for a long time, but again, I just want to get my story out there and I want to help people lead Because, again, you can have a great impact as a teacher. You can have an even bigger impact as a principal and even bigger impact, you know, taking my story, my message, worldwide.
Principal JL:No, I know a lot of principals, like Dr Edoho-Eket right, she's a current principal, she's a national speaker, she's all over the place and I like, oh hey, you're doing a great job and it's really. You know, it was really great to connect with her out at the national conference where I went to one of her sessions. But at the same time, man, you can still do the work and then have these side things where you're helping leaders grow and those things like that. And so I really I think you're going to do it, I think you're going to make it there. It's just going to take time.
Principal JL:You know, my side gig is a podcast. I don't make money doing this. I spend more money than I do making it at this at this level. It's just. You know, this is a resource for those people out there that need it, and I just love bringing on different people because I get to learn from them. So it was a lot of fun, Jayme, to bring you in and learn from you as well. And so, Jayme, if listeners wanted to connect with you and get to know more about you follow you on Instagram how could they do that?
Jayme Braida:So I have a LinkedIn, which is just Jayme Braida, and my Instagram. I have kind of a personal account and then my professional one, which is just my first name, last name, Jayme Braida, principal, unfiltered. I actually have started dabbling in some different social media stuff, so I have a landing page. I'm very impressed with myself that I could figure that out. But if you go to my Instagram, you could subscribe and get my weekly videos. I put those out on the weekend. It's just a one to two minute video about some of the stuff we talked about how to show up with clarity, purpose and connection and do that authentically as your unfiltered self. And then there's some good practical tips that I've been sharing in that as well. And then, if you know, if you want to find me I'm always usually you'll find me from about 745 to 815. I'm out dancing and on the front lawn with the kids in the morning, so as they're coming in, so that's where I'll be.
Principal JL:I bet you, the kids love that. All right. So, Jayme, this was a great conversation and I will put down in the show notes your you know Instagram accounts. Anything you need me to have in the show notes for people to connect with you, We'll get that in there for them to make it real easy for people to to reach out and connect with you. I think. Keep following, because you're going to probably have this big reveal down the road. So you want to subscribe to Jayme's account so you can keep track of the great work that she is doing as well. Well, Jayme, it was great having you on the show today. I learned a lot. I hope our listeners learned a lot. It took a lot away from this. I would really enjoy you here and have a great night. Is there anything you'd like to say before we go?
Jayme Braida:I just want to say thank you for having me. I love getting to talk because I think every time we talk about things like this and put ourselves in, maybe kind of stretch ourselves out of our comfort zones, it helps us to grow, and answering questions just helps us reflect on how we can become better leaders. So I appreciate the opportunity.
Principal JL:What a conversation with Jayme Braida. I love how she is her unfiltered self as an educator. We don't need to have all the answers, we just need to show up and do our best each and every day. Thank you, Jayme, for sharing your journey with us, and if this episode resonates with you, I would encourage you to share it with someone who needs to hear it. Please subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss another upcoming episode. Until next time, be curious and 1% better.
