My childhood could only be described as magical. It was a time when my imagination could run wild and nothing was impossible. It was a time when everything was here and now, and I didn’t have to worry about the future. One thing in particular stood out from those early years, and it was a place called Twinkle Twinkle

Preschool. My parents would drop me off there every day, and I would walk through a garden filled with exotic plants before entering through the open doorway. There I would be greeted by my other family, the Twinkle family. The children were not only my friends, but my siblings. The staff took care of me like my rela-tives. And Sétaré Fathí was everybody’s mother.

Sétaré is the most selfless person I have ever known. Unlike some in-dividuals, her reason for starting a preschool was clearly not the bottom line. As Laura Read, the school’s co-director put it, “you want to be loving and kind and there for the parents, and at the same time you have to be a business person, and that’s her hardest job… to actually say you owe me money.” But what is her true motivation behind

the preschool? According to Chrissy Hillard Valaga, a parent and volunteer at Twinkle “[Sétaré] doesn’t take in that much mon-ey… and so this is basi-cally just out of the love of her heart that she does this job.” Over the years, the community has tak-en notice of her unique school, which goes on weekly field trips, has reg-ular reading and writing lessons, and is constantly hosting special guests for the children. With all she provides to the children, her services have been in high demand. “Being a small operation makes it hard to accept all appli-cants” says Sétaré, however “[if it were] bigger than that, I would lose the per-sonal touch. I like to be

part of everybody’s family and really get to know ev-ery child.” To many peo-ple, Sétaré is like an open doorway through which she provides vital services to the community and in-cludes you as if you were a part of her family. Through this doorway, you can see her true selflessness, which shows through her work at Twinkle Twinkle Daycare. Remarkably, when Sétaré was younger, she never dreamed of working with children, let alone running a preschool out of her own home. Sétaré

grew up in Iran, where she became trilingual in Farsi, French, and some Turkish. “When I was little, I used to think [I would] build houses like my dad and be a developer,” says Sétaré. Unfortunately, when Sétaré was just thirteen, her architectural ambition was interrupted by the Iranian Revolution. Sétaré left the country and stud-ied in France for two years while her father secured a job in Los Angeles. However, mov-ing to the United States

Left: Twinkle Twinkle students get lots of time to play outdoors. Here you can see Laura and Rod supervis-ing the children during play time.

for Sétaré “was culture shock… I didn’t speak any English… and I didn’t know where I belonged.” Sétaré picked up English rather quickly, although American customs still escaped her at times. “ I wasn’t used to the culture that you have to apply to a lot of [universities], and somehow I thought when you apply you get in,” says Sétaré, who was accepted at UCLA. When I asked her about her plans in college, she said “I thought I was going to take care of people and be a doctor… and so I went to pre-med.” But that didn’t seem to work out, especially after she told me “I noticed I got depressed in the hos-pital.” After three years in

med school, Sétaré finally discovered her dream: “I took a child development class… and then I noticed I really liked kids.” After getting mar-ried, Sétaré moved to the Bay Area, where she had her first son and decided to start Twinkle Twinkle Preschool out of her small home. With a rapidly ex-panding number of chil-dren to take care of, Sétaré needed to relocate the pre-school. “Our bedroom was nap room, our son’s bed-room was the play room and the office was another nap room,” says Sétaré, who eventually moved to a larger house where she would have a dedicated side just for the school. Twenty-three years later, Sétaré is still as devoted to the children

as she was in the begin-ning and still retains the personal touch for every single member of her Twinkle family. In early September Sétaré cele-brated the birthday one of her students in her own unique way. As Laura says, “[Sétaré] goes above and beyond what most preschools will do… she celebrates every child’s birthday very elaborate-ly, and no birthday goes away without some bal-loons and presents and cakes and crowns and a book.” She was right about that. Earlier in the week, Sétaré had each student write birthday wishes which were compiled into a book. She then gave the book as a present to the student, along with several other personalized gifts. Although the student didn’t think much of the

thought put into the gifts, her parents certainly did, and thanked Sétaré for her generosity. One of the most no-table things about Sétaré is the way she reminds me of my grandmother: she is always giving hugs, offering to give you food, and asking personalized questions. “My main goal,” Sétaré tells me, “ is mak-ing sure these children remember their young ages as a happy time, as a time they were loved, as a time the teachers and friends were excited to see them. As a good begin-ning to step away from home and feel accepted in their new environment” Clearly, it’s hard not to feel at home when you’re around her. However, she does struggle with the

fact that Twinkle Twinkle Preschool is, well, a busi-ness. For Sétaré, managing the payroll is more chal-lenging than anything else, because as Laura puts it, “[when] you develop such a close relationship with the families, it’s hard to be that business person.” Un-fortunately, business is not just about collecting bills, but also managing ex-penses. And with all that Sétaré has to offer such as field trips, music teachers, and science teachers, those expenses add up quick-ly. Not to mention what she spends on everyday supplies for the school and gifts for the children. Luckily, Sétaré always has help from her staff and volunteers. “[They] all try to keep me in reign on budgeting because I’ll

forget it. I spend like cra-zy… cause I love to buy things and get things for kids,” says Sétaré, while “[Chrissy] deals with all the communication and tells me what I need to do.” With all the help she receives, Sétaré is able to be people-centered rather than business-centered, allowing her more time to spend with the children. The future for Sétaré certainly deviates from that of most people. I thought retirement was surely on the horizon for a hard working person like Sétaré, but once again she showed her devotion to the Twinkle family. “I haven’t thought of… not [being] able to take care of Twinkle, what I would do with my life. I try al-ways to be the best I can

be right now,” Sétaré tells me. However, Sétaré also mentions “it would be nice if [Twin-kle Twinkle] would keep on going after me, and it kept on being a positive place where kids could feel happy and safe.” It is in-credible to think that Sétaré would not have a clear plan laid out for her future, but at the same time it is remarkably revealing. Sétaré is once again proving her generosity and ded-ication to her Twinkle family be-cause rather than having concerns for the future, she would rather “deal with every moment of the day as right now.” Even without a clear path for the future, Sétaré will still serve as a doorway for children and parents to feel included in a new fami-ly, the Twinkle family.

“That’s a great benefit of living around children… they really are wonderful teachers to us grown-ups to remind us to live in the right now and live at the moment.”

-Sétaré Fathí