Voices of TA-DA!: Families of San José, California
By Elsabete Kebede, TA-DA! Intern
Jesse (sound engineer extraordinaire) and Michelle (our committed CEO) were on a race against time to execute recording sessions at some of the top international schools in the Bay Area. Jesse flew in from Boston on a red-eye and hit the ground the minute he landed, running to make some language learning magic happen — within a limited two-day window. Coordinating schedules at five top San Francisco Bay Area schools — and that of a four time Grammy-Award winning recording engineer — is not a task for the faint at heart. But one thing is for sure: where there is a will, there is a way. And if you want to succeed as a startup, you must always find a way.
After a full day of recording students in San Francisco at Xian Yun (for Mandarin Chinese books) and the Lycée Français in Sausalito, California (for French books), the duo came to the realization that time (and Bay Area traffic) was not on their side to make it to our Spanish-speaking friends at Escuela Bilingue Internacional in Oakland, California, before the kids were dismissed from school. Sadly, that meant canceling our recording session with them on this one occasion. But we still needed to record Spanish while Jesse was in town from Boston, Massachusetts, if we wanted to include Spanish in our next round of books.
If there’s one thing that the TA-DA! team has learned throughout this journey, it is the following: a) you have to be resourceful and b) it takes a village to bring this vision together!
Michelle immediately reached out to Gaby Espinosa, a Mexican-American mama - and an angel of a woman who has been a dedicated supporter of TA-DA! and their mission since day one. Michelle and Gaby’s relationship formed nearly a year ago when Gaby played an instrumental role in the recording of TA-DA!’s first Spanish Language Adventures book.
That unique session, which is now nearing its year anniversary, took place at Gaby’s home instead of a typical studio so the kids would feel more comfortable in their own home setting with their mom nearby.
Gaby graciously handled the logistics of keeping things in order with the young group of kids who were participating in the session so Michelle could ensure the kids felt comfortable to record.
Team TA-DA! made a makeshift studio by clearing out a small closet and getting to work. The kids were super troopers about the whole thing and boy, was the experience fun for all involved! Did we mention that in the midst of all of this, Gaby provided snacks and watched over Michelle’s five-year-old son (as Michelle was occupied recording for hours)? Talk about a heart of gold!
Gaby grew up in Mexico where she studied German as a student — and even had the opportunity of being an exchange student in Germany. She shared that fond memory as a testament to her appreciation and support of TA-DA!’s mission. So, when Michelle phoned her communicating the jam TA-DA! was in on that 2-day recording sprint and their fear of not having Spanish completed, Gaby immediately agreed to step in and sport her halo.
After wrangling with rush-hour traffic, Jesse and Michelle were able to meet up with Gaby and her kids before the sun set and the Sandman came calling. Dedicated TA-DA! graphic design intern Kem Awosanya stepped in as well to save the day and reserved the sound studio on her university campus at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in downtown San José. (See what we mean about it taking an entire village?) Check out some pictures from our visit below!
TA-DA! feels so extremely fortunate to have devoted interns like Kem — and to know Gaby and her family. These are relationships that we treasure deep in our hearts. Thank you for sharing your faith, love, and unconditional support. We would not be where we are today without backing from people like you. Your voices are as beautiful as you are. Gracias.
P.S. Have you seen the gorgeous bookmark we sent out in our February newsletter? Yep, Kem designed it!
