Celebrating 10 years of nurturing neighborhoods into villages

Since 2015, Sawyer has been honored to act as a connecting force between families and the inspiring educators in their neighborhoods. It’s been our pleasure to be a small part of the hundreds of thousands of moments of growth, learning, and joy for the past 10 years.

The start of something great

Graphic with headline: Announcement: The Kids Passport

Marissa and Steph were two moms living in Brooklyn, working full-time and struggling to find enriching and fun activities for their children. Not only was it difficult to find educators in general, but also they wanted to let their children try new things and discover their own passions. So, with a few emails, a quick website, and some very trusting educators, they brought the first version of Sawyer into the world: A place where parents could easily find, and try, a variety of different activities.

Photo of a Stephanie's daughter participating in an art activity

“As a new mom, especially one working in tech, I was just blown away by how hard it was to find and book activities for my daughter.”

Stephanie Choi, Co-Founder

2015 – Present

But, as the team started to grow and we dove in deeper, we realized that the best way to support parents and solve this problem was by supporting the educators_. Nothing existed that was made specifically for these businesses, and changing that would benefit both the providers, as well as parents.

Photo of Sawyer events and a provider teaching a class

“When I started using Sawyer 10 years ago, I was already a few years into running Treasure Trunk — and drowning in archaic spreadsheets. Sawyer completely transformed how I ran my business — everything finally made sense!

Elisa Pupko, Founder of Treasure Trunk Theatre

Publication headline: This new NYC service is like ClassPass for kids...and it's awesome

Our Sawyer family grows

Graphic with publication headline: "Exclusive: This Startup wants to be the opentable for kids' classes"

With each new educator who signed on with Sawyer, we learned more about the opportunities and challenges they faced_. We made it our mission to solve these issues by working alongside our educators, asking questions, and understanding the industry so we could create the best possible platform. Along the way, we grew our community of Sawyer team members, educators, and families.

Photo of a dinosaur suit at a Sawyer event

“In a ‘no task is too small’ moment, our team would often go to activity fairs where our educators were. We decided to get a dinosaur costume for one of them..but people had to wear it and it was 90 degrees! It was hot, but it was worth it to see the smiles of the children and their families!”

Alex Rosenberg, Content Marketing Manager

2019 – 2022

Every feature launch, event, and new educator onboarded presented a chance for us to continue building not only a product, but also a community. We win when we all win — and watching our educators connect with more families and inspire the next generation was our guiding force_.

Photos of a provider event and the Sawyer office

Going remote, but staying connected

Graphic with publication headline: Sawyer Connects Kids with Virtual Learning Activities

In 2020, the world shut down. Children were suddenly isolated with no sense of community outside of the home, caregivers were stretched thin, and businesses needed to pivot from in-person to online. We knew we had to take action to support our educators and families during this scary transition. Within the first 2 weeks of lockdown, our team launched the ability for our educators to run classes online for the first time_.

Sticker with text "136,500 online classes in 2020!"

“When COVID hit, we stopped all other work and decided to focus on building key features that wound up saving many of our small business educators who had to shut their doors to in-person activities during this time. It was all hands on deck here and it really made a meaningful impact.”

Dylan Depice, Director of Provider Experience

2018 – Present

The story continues

Graphic with publication headline: Ann Arbor-based DaySmart Acquires Sawyer in Brooklyn, NY

It’s been a joy to continue growing our Sawyer family and community. We processed 11 million bookings in 2024 across every state in the US and have partnered with over 2,000 educators. Our community expanded as well when we were acquired by DaySmart and with their help, we have even more room to make our product, and team, as strong as possible.

Photo from an activity at Brooklyn Ballet

“When we met the DaySmart team, we knew right away that they see the world the way we do, and what the power of technology can do to improve the lives of businesses and consumers. With DaySmart by our side, Sawyer will have more resources to further improve and grow the product.”

Marissa Alden, Co-Founder

2015 – Present

Every conversation we have with parents and educators and every new team member we welcome brings us closer to accomplishing our goal of giving every child the chance to learn, grow, explore their passions, have fun, and make new friends.

“Growing up being raised by a single mom, I never really had choices in the world of activities, and I was drawn to working for a company that had as its mission the idea to give every child the opportunity to discover their own love of learning. I get to help providers give that to the next generation and I feel so grateful.”

Andres Posada,  Sr. Sales Enablement Manager

2019 – Present

The story continues

It takes a village to raise a child, and nurturing neighborhoods into villages is our life’s work. But the best is yet to come. The industry is constantly evolving, and so we change with it_. We’ll never stop working tirelessly alongside our educators, to help continue our mission to give every child the opportunity to fall in love with learning.

Let’s grow together!

Interested in becoming a part of the Sawyer community and growing your business? Speak with a member of our team! Know of a provider who would be a great fit? Refer them and get rewarded.

Schedule a demo Refer an educator