From Corporate to Community: Kristi Noonan Transforms Loss into Purpose with Children’s Lighthouse Franchise

Kristi Noonan spent 20-plus years in the advertising world before making the leap to business ownership, but the entrepreneurial bug was within her long before that. As a child, she watched her grandfather own and run a fuel company, and she saw her dad transition from a corporate engineering role to buying and running a campground. Throughout her time in the corporate world, Noonan was consistently focused on people. Why do they do what they do? How do people make decisions? What is it that this client really needs, and what can I do to help?

When Noonan lost her daughter, Grace, at birth, she was forced to reconsider what was important to her in life. Marketing is an important part of our everyday lives, and her roles were quite impactful — advertising airplanes and rockets for Boeing, then life-saving medications for SANOFI. Still, she felt she needed something different.

“I needed to do something that better aligned with changing priorities and made a difference in the world,” Noonan said. “What I was doing in marketing was about as close as I could get to making a difference in the world, but I needed to see a more direct impact in the work I was doing. It was the right time and opportunity, and Children’s Lighthouse gave us an opportunity to get involved in something with more purpose and ultimately give back to our community.”

Noonan and her husband, Brendan, had known of the 70-plus location kids education franchise before this moment as their son, Jackson, was a student there. After moving away from the first daycare he attended, the Noonans continued to drive 20 minutes out of their way to drop him off because they couldn’t picture him going anywhere else. About six months later, they scheduled a tour with their local Children’s Lighthouse, which was just two blocks away from their home, saying that they would “just check it out.” 

The night before, the family had been struggling with the idea of ever sending Jackson to another daycare or early education center; when they walked into the Children’s Lighthouse tour, they had another moment of clarity.

“It brought me to tears. It was just so obvious that we would be sending him to Children’s Lighthouse,” Noonan said. “It had everything we wanted — the warmth, community and connection. We were so confident in our decision.”

As much as the Noonans loved Children’s Lighthouse’s approach to learning and exploration, they were especially taken by the school’s response to their loss.

“The school was great. The teachers did a great job of helping us navigate the situation with Jackson, and everyone was so caring and understanding as a school and community,” Noonan said. “A lot of the families didn’t even know us that well, but they rallied around us. I even got a book, from one of the other families, that helped Jackson understand and process the loss. I think that was when we really realized how important the value of community is, and that’s something big we want to build with our new school.”

As Noonan continued to think of what her next step might be, this personal experience with the school weighed heavily on the decision-making process. Over time, the family began seriously considering ownership with Children’s Lighthouse.

“It made all the sense in the world to us,” she said. “We already trusted and believed in the brand as parents, and when we met with the team in Texas, we believed in it from a business perspective, too.”

Now, the Noonans are working to build their first location in the northern suburbs of Chicago with long-term plans to potentially expand even further. In addition to cultivating that same sense of community they enjoyed, they are excited to be creating a safe space for kids to explore and learn. Noonan says that, with younger kids, simply giving them options and creating the time and space for them to think critically can be powerful.

“It’s so simple, but giving them a little bit of the control and autonomy they need to think about and make choices is so important to their growth,” she said. “We even have Jackson, who is now eight, involved in the development process. We bring him with us on site visits and ask his opinion on various elements of development of the school. It’s cool to show him this journey and teach him what it’s like to build a business.”

As they continue to move forward, growing as a family, Noonan said that she is most excited about just that — the potential for ongoing growth. She celebrates the resilience, thoughtfulness and knowledge that kids bring to the table, and she’s excited to create a space where those things are recognized and encouraged. And beyond the four walls of the school, she says they plan to be just as involved in the community at large.

“Ownership with Children’s Lighthouse will allow us to be a different part of the fabric of the community. We want to be involved in events that matter to the community and provide opportunities where possible. We will contribute as a business that’s focused on growing, teaching, guiding and developing kids into the incredible humans they can be through things like Brain to Belly Kids Yoga, which teaches mindfulness and yoga and benefits social-emotional development,” she said. “And as for myself, I’m always ‘going.’ There will be no rest for me. To be in control of my own vision, what it looks like and how I can create that place and space — that’s what really excites me about our future.”

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/childrens-lighthouse.