Create, teach, learn and start again. Lauren Runion’s passion for art education runs throughout her career, but flexibility has proven to be the key to her success.
“I’ve taught for more than 25 years,” she says. “I’ve taught in private schools and public schools. When my daughter was born, I had put in 19 years of teaching at that point.”
When Runion found that her daughter wasn’t thriving in preschool, a change was needed.
“My husband and I decided that I needed to come home and work with her and manage therapies and all that, so I resigned and started looking around for other things to do to make ends meet,” she says.
Runion decided to do what she knew – and started offering art classes in her home.
“And it kind of blew up,” she says. “After three years of doing that, we had about 200 people a week through our house. I would offer homeschool art classes, afterschool art classes, preschool play groups. We would rent our house out for birthday parties on the weekends. Some weekends, we would have three birthday parties a weekend. It was insane. And then COVID hit.”
Runion pivoted once again, turning to virtual art classes. And again, she found a niche.
“I was able to teach kids from here all the way out to Hawaii, Washington state,” she says. “I think I ended up with about 30 or 40 of the states represented in my classroom at one point.”
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As the world reopened, Runion made a new leap, opening Yellowbobbypins Art Camp at Hampton Station just over a year ago.
“It’s just been kind of magic,” she says.
The place buzzes with activity, offering classes for children ages 6 months – 14 years, plus sensory-driven play groups, camps, parties, one-day programs for school holidays and more. All of it is driven by Runion’s combined passions for children and art, even though where she has ended up is far from what she expected.
“It is so different,” Runion says. “I never planned to be an entrepreneur. I was very happy in the classroom. Thinking of running a business never once entered my mind. I came by it accidentally, so I’m very much an accidental entrepreneur. I learned and have learned a ton from my husband who has been an entrepreneur his entire life. The first couple of years of business, I spent a lot of time picking his brain – ‘What about this? What about this? What about this?’ – and I’ve also taken a lot of classes as well, trying to get up to speed. The education side of it is easy because I’ve done it so long. The entrepreneur side has been a big learning curve.”
As her art students build community with each other, their parents are also connecting, and Runion is leading the charge for that, even as she is feeling supported by surrounding business owners like Craft Axe Throwing, White Duck Taco Shop and Hallowed Earth Pottery, and others among her Hampton Station neighbors.
“Yellowbobbypins grew up as I had a need to be at home with my daughter full-time,” Runion says. “Classes were built around her and what she needed. And even to this day, she comes with me. We homeschool and she comes with me to the classroom when needed. I’ve been able to hire a teacher and she brings her daughter when needed and that’s just part of how we run. We’re moms first.”
Learn more at yellowbobbypins.com.
