An Orange County teacher was able to transform her small home business creating teaching materials into a $50-million-a-year international company!
Rachelle Cracchiolo is the company founder and CEO of Teacher Created Materials, a privately held company with locations in every state, in over 90 countries and its materials are translated into 20 languages.
Cracchiolo grew up around an entrepreneurial family, with both her dad and grandfather being businessmen.
“Dad used to say. I had 21 jobs before I was 21.”
While working as a teacher during her first five years, she realized variety and imagination was missing from the curriculum.
She decided to spice her classroom up by having them build different things.
If she was teaching about dinosaurs, she showed the kids how to build a paper mache dinosaur and if it was Thanksgiving, she taught children how to make a turkey.
When she was pregnant with her first child, she created a book for teachers about what she called “quick, fun art for kids”....which no one bought.
After a couple years, she was divorced with two young girls and knew her teaching salary wasn't enough to support her daughters.
She decided to not give up and began to build the foundation of her Teacher Created Materials empire.
If you want to learn more about Cracchiolo and her story, check out her website HERE and follow them on social media (Twitter and Facebook).
Listen to Bill's interview with Rachelle!
Part 1
Part 2
Rachelle Cracchiolo, company founder and CEO, Bill Handel, daughters Corrine Burton and Deanne Mendoza