Female Disruptors: Mindy York Of Baby Otter Swim School On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, we had the pleasure of interviewing Mindy York.

Mindy has training in business development and got involved with Baby Otter after her child, who was 17 month’s old at the time, was found at the bottom of a pool. Fortunately, Mindy knew CPR and was able to revive her. This experience rapidly created a life-long mission for her and her business partner, Marlene. They have been working this program together for 40 years and are proud to be saving lives.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Over 48 years ago I was desperate to find swimming lessons for my 3-year-old, but none were available for young children. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create a program teaching kids in just five days what to do if they fall into the water. A decade later, Mindy came into the picture after almost losing her 17-month-old child to drowning. With her background in business development and my experience as an educator, we joined forces to establish the Baby Otter Swim School. Together, we leverage our strengths to empower entrepreneurs through our franchise division, ultimately saving more children from drowning.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

The statistics surrounding childhood drowning are alarming, and every parent should be extremely concerned about their child’s ability to swim. Drowning is the leading cause of death among young children, which is why it’s distressing to me when parents believe it’s too expensive to hire a private instructor to teach their child this essential life skill. The question we should be asking ourselves is how much is our child’s life worth? Understandably, some parents dislike hearing their children cry, but teaching them how to swim is crucial in ensuring their safety around water.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When we arrive at a child’s home for lessons, they see us, lock the door, and shut the blinds. We’ve learned to meet the family around the back. Understandably, children are nervous about being exposed to something or someone new.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact? Our journey has been nothing shy or miraculous with the amazing people who have crossed our paths.

Andre “the Hawk” Dawson an MLB Hall of Fame baseball player that we have taught, has been our ambassador, never wanting any money to help us make this mission of saving kids from drowning his passion as well.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Our industry has withstood the test of time, from being closed for months due to hurricanes to COVID-19 and other issues. Unfortunately, the number of kids drowning is enough to fill up eleven kindergarten classrooms. Those kids will never have birthdays, go to elementary school or high school, or go to prom because their lives were cut short. They could have been saved if they knew how to swim. We must be disruptive when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable in our society. Drowning is a leading cause of death in children under the age of 5. It’s an epidemic that this country/state has not yet embraced. When you are being disruptive for causes like saving the lives of children, no amount of disruption is enough. Intentionally disrupting our way of life for malicious purposes has no place in our society. Such distractions only take away from important issues like saving the lives of our children from drowning.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?

1. LOVE WHAT YOU DO AND IT’S NEVER A DAY AT THE OFFICE

2. NEVER GIVE UP

3. STAY FOCUSED

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

Continue to offer our franchise opportunities to help so many who don’t love what they do and want to become part of the huge mission of saving children from drowning.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Women are looked at as a weaker species when, in reality, we are the strength behind everything.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

WOMEN RULE THIS WORLD. Make decisions that work for you, not anyone else. Take control of your destiny. Never follow the crowd; let the crowd follow you. In life, unfortunately, a strong man is looked on as a good businessman, and a strong woman is looked on as a bitch. I personally embrace that title and show them who is in control when I am in front of a group of men.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Find what you love and take it to extreme levels of success.

How can our readers follow you online?

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/babyotterswimschool

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/babyotterswimschool/

LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindy-york-5023987/

Mindy York and Baby Otter Swim School

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!