Parent and Baby Awards 2021

Page 6 www.lux-review.com LUX 2021 Parent and Baby Awards CocoRio was founded by Lea Henry and Corinna Bordoli with a mission to nurture a community of guilt-free working parents while engaging their children in activities that are fun and great for their development. CocoRio specialises in matching families with creative professionals for more imaginative childcare solutions for children aged six months to 15 years. The sitters are fully vetted, creative professionals who perform childcare duties and share their craft with the children. CocoRio prides itself in offering a uniquely tailored service to all its clients, tying close to one of its core values: diversity. CocoRio’s sitters come from around the world and have different creative expertise, childcare experience, backgrounds, and speak other languages. Lea Henry, one of the Founders of CocoRio, explains, “We value each of their unique stories. Our diversity allows us to make the perfect family-sitter match as our sitters and staff are very friendly and offer a personalised and unique experience.” It is easy to book a CocoRio sitter, and it aims to accommodate all families requests as best as possible. Corinna, CocoRio’s other Founder states, “Whatever your child needs regarding care, creative learning activities and language, we’re here for you. Creativity doesn’t need expensive tools. We encourage our sitters to explore the recycling bin, the pantry, and the park before thinking about purchasing new materials. We love upcycling, and we also encourage following the change of seasons by engaging with natural elements - from flowers to sand to snow.” Every one of CocoRio’s creative sitters goes through a thorough three-stage recruitment Jul21480 CocoRio Most Innovative Childcare Agency 2021 - UK process. Corinna explains, “The safety of the children we work with is at the top of our priority. We ensure all sitters have an enhanced DBS check, are first aid trained, undergo safeguarding training, as well as our CocoRio training. We meet all our sitters in person, we’re always on top of our safety checks, and we look for individuals who live and breathe the CocoRio values. All of our sitters are brilliant, creative professionals with a range of backgrounds and have experience working with children. We want our sitters to be confident individuals with which parents will feel comfortable leaving their children, and we want them to be passionate about their art form and enriching the lives of children.” CocoRio’s goal hasn’t changed through the Covid-19 pandemic; however, the importance of its service has been amplified by it. Lea states, “The pandemic shifted a lot for working parents. Home-schooling while working from home, worrying about kids having too much screen time, lack of socialisation for children and more. We know this will resonate with all parents. Our mission is to reduce this burden through guilt- free and flexible childcare arrangements while supporting freelance creative professionals. The pandemic did lead us to develop an online offering as well. Our online sessions revolve around homework help and creative and or language sessions, as well as a very popular ‘Meet Elsa from Frozen’ series.” As mentioned above, CocoRio initially had to pivot its offerings to an online service as childcare wasn’t permitted in the first lockdown. Fortunately, it was able to resume almost as usual after that and support families. CocoRio sitters supported with home-schooling and enabled working parents to actually get some work in! Throughout the Pandemic, and to this day, CocoRio sitters follow Covid safety measures to keep all families and children as safe as possible. Both Founders state, “For the future of CocoRio, we are hoping to expand nationwide. We aim to bring creative childcare to other hubs across the world and support more families. Creativity is paramount to the healthy development of children and that’s why we do what we do. With our help, parents can excel at parenting and at work knowing their kids are engaging in activities that are meaningful and amazing for their development!” A leading childcare agency of the UK, CocoRio aims to solve two problems within its community - underemployment in the creative industries and the need for guilt-free and flexible childcare solutions. CocoRio strongly believes that creativity is necessary for children to succeed at school, in future careers, and in developing language and social skills. Company: CocoRio Contact Name: Lea Henry and Corinna Bordoli Web: www.cocorio.co.uk Email: [email protected]