The more interviews and networking I do, the more amazing teachers I meet along the way. Chelsey is no exception to that. I had the pleasure of meeting Chelsey through an accountability group run by an amazing business coach, Marshall Stern.
What I love about the work that Chelsey does is the care that she brings to making every child she interacts with feel seen. Giving them a supportive space to belong and build their confidence.
Chelsey is the founder of Beyond the Stage. A space for children to build their confidence through theatre productions in her community of Cloverdale in Surrey, BC.
Make sure to keep a couple of tissues nearby because even in editing, this post was a tearing up. Chelsey’s passion and dedication to helping kids is inspiring. She shares her own experience of being a teacher and the mindset changes she adopted as she stepped into the role of business owner and founder.
This is Chelsey’s story.
Women Who Inspire Me: Chelsey Koledo
Katie Eberman: Can you share a bit about your journey, the path that led you to where you are today, and the moment that really changed things for you?
Chelsey Kolenda: I have always loved theatre. It’s been a big cornerstone of my life. I have also always loved working with children.
Way back, I did theatre as a child. I grew up, went to university, and started thinking about my life path. I decided I wanted to be a teacher, and I was teaching for a long time.
I would always find ways to bring my love of theatre and love of engaging children in creative experiences together. I would see that when I did bring my two passions together, the children would flourish.
With limited resources and a little creativity, I was able to put on these fun programs and drama clubs.
But I never really thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I just thought of myself as a teacher. And then I had an idea.
What if I took what I'm doing in schools and I brought it to kids in the community?
Beyond the Stage started not so long ago as a community project. In our first go, we had a high enrollment of kids in the program, and it went really well.
Being able to see the impact that it made on the kids and to hear the reactions from the families made me think, “Wow, I guess this is actually something that is possible. I guess we can actually do this.”
We transferred the program over to a new neighbourhood. I found this lovely space to run the program from, and I started my second program. When that launched, I found even more children were coming to me.
All of a sudden, I was getting paying clients. While still being able to keep my community values and retaining the lower price point to make it more accessible for families.
But having these families all of a sudden made everything that I was building real. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, this is actually happening!” And then it kind of snowballed from there.
I realized that if I'm going to do this, I might as well do it for real. I started to ask myself, “What does it take to actually build a company?” Because now that I'm at the point where I have 22 kids that want to register, and I have a second class starting with a second teacher. Now I actually need to know how to run a company beyond just my instinct.
So that's when I recruited some help. I invested in working with my coach and other people who were giving me advice about that entrepreneurship side of things.
I said to myself, “Ok, if I'm gonna do this, I'm going to put my all into it.”
And that's kind of been since December 2025. I’ve been focusing on building new programs, finding new spaces and new ways to engage with the community.
Along the way, I stopped thinking of myself as a teacher who runs programs and started thinking of myself as an entrepreneur. I actually do have an entrepreneurial mindset. I'm actually doing this for real. And that was a huge mindset shift in just how I saw myself and how I saw the possibilities that I had.
Katie Eberman: Thank you for sharing that. I love hearing how women get started in their businesses. I feel like I get the opportunity to see all the different ways women get started, and the one thing that always stands out to me is how we are all so mission-driven. From what it sounds like, everything happened relatively quickly for you.
Chelsey Kolenda: Yeah, and that's the other thing. The speed that it’s all happened is remarkable. I mean, the whole thing started as a community project, and it only started as an actual business in, I would say, it's only been a year.
I have sold out a play performance program, which is really exciting. I've put on two shows, started offering three little kids' four- to seven-year-old classes, I've hosted two improv classes with a different teacher, I've hired somebody, I've got two daycares now that I'm working with, and now I've got a private school that we go in and teach with in a year. Which is just kind of remarkable and kind of insane when I look back on it.
I actually did that, and I actually know how to do that. That's wild. And of course I'm always finding things along the way about what I don't know or what I'm, and what my strengths are. But just I think that mindset shift that hey, I actually have done that and I actually have built that is what stands out to me looking back.
And so that means that I'm not an imposter anymore because you kind of feel at first that you're walking into networking spaces and you feel like an imposter. But I'm not. Actually, I’m an entrepreneur.
Shifting Your Mindset & Stepping into Confidence As An Entrepreneur
Katie Eberman: I'm learning from my conversations with women that a lot of us have a similar story to you in the sense that we start out not knowing the business side of things. It's so comforting to hear that, like us, they started because they had a passion, and so they dove into it, knowing that along the way they will learn how to run a business.
How has working with a coach helped you as your business grows?
Chelsey Kolenda: It helped me change the language that I was using to describe what I was doing.
When I first started working with him, I would say things like, "This seems like a really big long shot, and I probably won't be able to do this, but if I could…”, and he would ask me questions like, “Why are you saying that? Why don't you just say I would like to accomplish x, y, z instead?”
That mindset shift has been huge. And then also building up the confidence to be able to hire somebody, to host interviews, and to be able to do these things that are kind of wild and really exciting.
It's been helpful to have someone beside me guiding me through that process and helping me find my confidence in that.
Katie Eberman: I know when we first met, you shared a story of having your business grow in unexpected ways. You had a daycare reach out to you asking to put on a program for them. What was that experience like for you?
Chelsey Kolenda: They had approached me and asked me if I wanted to run a day program at their daycare centre. My first reaction was that I'd never really thought about doing programs at daycare centres. In my experience, I'm more of an intermediate teacher. I've taught preschool and worked with younger kids in summer camp, for example, but it wasn’t my area of expertise.
The more I thought about it, the more I saw this as a new opportunity, so why wouldn’t I pursue it, despite it being new and unfamiliar territory? At the time, I didn’t have any of the logistics in place. I didn’t have someone who could teach the class because it would happen during the day when I was working. I also didn't have a curriculum or a teacher in place, but I said yes.
It was kind of scary. I had to trust that I would get it all figured out. Some doors open when you least expect them, and you just get to trust yourself that you can do it.
Katie Eberman: I love that you share that because oftentimes I think women entrepreneurs can get stuck in this loop of overthinking their next steps. I’ve always found that when you start to say yes to opportunities and start taking action, you actually get to see what you're capable of. From there, there is a domino effect where other opportunities open up for you. Along the way, your confidence builds in the process.
Building a Safe Space Where Every Child Belongs
Katie Eberman: I would love to learn a little bit more about the kids in your programs and the families that come into your community.
Chelsey Kolenda: We have a very special spot. I'm putting together a video with interviews with parents and kids. So I actually just interviewed a few parents and kids and got their interviews on camera and spliced a little video together. They reiterated exactly what I hoped they would say because I think where my unique spot is that I am really good as a teacher working with kids who have social-emotional needs, where I can meet them so that they can feel secure, connected, valued, and capable.
I love on them really hard, and I support them really hard while still giving them appropriate structure and also challenging them because I believe they can do it, that they can rise to the occasion.
The kids that I have coming, a lot of them are kids that didn't really fit anywhere else. They couldn't really find their spot, their home, their place to belong.
Also, I work with kids who need a boost in their confidence. Maybe, they really love theatre, or they really love being creative, but they need a space that feels nurturing and safe for them to explore that. I am attracting kids who have different insecurities or exceptionalities, children who are neurodivergent and all sorts of things that we work with.
The best confirmation of what I am doing is that's exactly what I was hearing as I was doing the interviews. I seriously love every single one of the children that I have in my program right now.
I could go down the list of every single child that I've had in my programs so far, and I can tell you exactly what specifically I love about all of them, whether they're in my four- to seven-year-old class and they're really, really cute and adorable, or whether they're getting older and I can see the growth that they have made.
The kids I have, they're brave, they're smart, they're respectful, and they’re kind. If that is the base that we have to grow the world with, I think that this world has a real shot at something better.
Because I know we're all in the space where things are hard and the things on the news are kind of depressing. But I have hope because of working with my incredible kids. If this is who will grow up and take on the positions of the world, then we have hope.
I mean, I have watched kids kneel down beside a child who might not be in the full group hanging out, and they went over to purposely connect with that person. That's incredible.
Helping Kids Connect to Lived Stories of the Past
For my last show, Neverland, we had it set in London during World War II. Of course, that's a topic that's far away from a lot of kids' experience or minds. So in order for them to really connect to that story, especially with the beginning scene where an air raid siren goes off, and the kids are in the bomb shelter where the father tells them the story of Neverland.
When you're asking kids who are eight to fourteen to portray a mature topic, that is heavy stuff.
So what we did was bring in a speaker from the community who had actually lived through that experience. He was a child in London during the bombing, and he remembered it all. He told us stories about his experience, and the kids sat enthralled in that circle, listening to that man with so much respect.
I planned for it to be a 20-25 minute visit, and he was there for almost an hour. The kids just asked him questions and actually listened to what he had to say. They truly cared about all of the things that he had gone through in his amazing stories. You could tell that it meant a lot to him. And it also meant so much to the kids that were a part of it.
A really sad thing is that he's been diagnosed with dementia. His memories are starting to go. Those memories are not going to last, and he won't be able to tell those stories forever. As much as the world needs to hear those stories, he won't have them forever.
So when I found that out, and I found out he was going to be at the show, I told the kids, and my goodness, I had two kids crying as if it were their own grandfather. I was so touched by their reactions. I know that it meant so much to the kids to have him at the performance. Their ability to enact his experience and memories was incredible. It was amazing to see 10- and 11-year-old children connect with and really have an adult understanding of what that means for someone.
That night after the performance, I had one of my amazing, amazing kids, who just played Peter Pan, such an exceptional child she is, she came to me and she said, “You know, I've been trying to figure out why what it is I love about acting.
And I think I've finally figured it out.”
And these are the words of an 11-year-old child. She said, “I think that when I am acting, I am telling a story and I'm giving a little piece of my soul to people that didn't have that before. And so when they walk away, they get to take that little piece with them, and hopefully that makes their lives better.”
Like, 11 years old, and that's your thought. That's just what you're just sitting there thinking that. But that just reflects on the depth of some of these kids and where they're coming from and how they connect to stories and what happens when you give them that space to be that introspective. It's pretty incredible.
Lowering Barriers & Creating Opportunities Through Scholarships
A small group of really wonderful kids that we work with are all on scholarship for our program. And those kids mean so much to me too, because they are all exceptional children who just can't access those opportunities in other ways. Some of them have gone through a lot, and they have this creative voice and this creativity inside of them, but there's nowhere else for them to bring that because of barriers.
Being able to lower those barriers for those kids and to say, hey, you're welcome here and you will have a home here and we will find a way to make sure that this can be our home, I think is brings me a lot of joy and satisfaction.
We had two little girls who joined our program who, when they first joined our program, they'd been speaking English for a matter of months, and they acted in a full English language production.
One of them was the narrator with huge paragraphs for lines. And did an exceptional job. Just seeing them grow in not only their skills but also their confidence and their place in this country and their new home has been amazing to see.
I always say to their mother, “We are so lucky as Canadians to welcome families like yours into our country because you and your girls are going to make our country so much better for you being here. We are privileged for you to be here, not the other way around, because your girls are so they're gonna do exceptional things being as smart, bright, and talented as they are.”
I can't even imagine what they'll do as they get older, and it will just bring so much to us. I also love working with such a diverse group of kids because I think there's so much in this world that's going on that is kind of demoralizing in that way. People not seeing each other for the human souls we are and how much good all of this diversity does for all of us.
Somehow it's become a negative thing to have a diverse space instead of seeing it as this amazing, incredible gift that it is.
Every child I work with, I tell parents that when your child is with me, they are with someone who cares so much about them as an individual and as a person.
That will translate into how things are going for them and how I treat them because they are so precious to me. You can rest assured that your child's being dropped off with someone who views them as the amazing, wonderful human that they are in everything. I've been able to find teachers that also embody those values because that's really important to me.
Katie Eberman: That's beautiful. This whole time I've been teary-eyed over here. Like, my gosh, this is beautiful. You are creating the exact space that I hope to raise my kids in.
Chelsey’s Advice for Women: Trust Your Passion and Take the Leap
Katie Eberman: When women read your story, what do you hope they walk away feeling or believing about themselves?
Chelsey Kolenda: There are a lot of people out there who have a passion for something, whether it is children or animals or everything in between. There are so many ways to bring beauty to the world. Design brings beauty to the world, art brings beauty to the world, writing brings beauty. All of these things bring this much-needed light and beauty into our lives.
There are so many people who have passions but talk themselves out of pursuing them because maybe they are not a business person, or they don't have the background, they haven’t taken a business course and don't know what they're doing.
I've done none of those things either, and I’m doing it. When I was in university, I was part of a group called the Passion Project, which was basically the idea that if you bring your passion into this world, there's a space for it, and that's where true change happens.
If everybody did that, if everybody brought their passion into the world for what they have, then what an amazing society we would have because we would be passionate, caring people and carry that around.
My advice would be: go do it, go for it.
Believe in yourself, and you'll find the people around you who support you. I'm lucky enough to have an incredible husband who I could not do this journey without. Seriously. He's there to pick me up. He's there to make me dinner. He was there to do all the laundry, to do all the little pieces to enable that to happen. So you'll find those people who support you and who are those supports in your life, and you'll also find those places where you shine and those people you can touch.
So whether you think you know anything or whether you think you don't, just do it and see what happens, and it can be like an amazing wild dream.
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