Cheers to 10 Years! Sara Marye Shares the Story Behind STC

Emily
Hey there, teachers. Welcome back to The Stellar Teacher Podcast. No, you’re not hearing things—you’re hearing a different voice doing the introduction today. This is Emily from The Stellar Teacher Team, and I am so excited and completely honored because today we are flipping the script—literally. I’m sort of taking over the podcast reins today with an interview of our Stellar Teacher guru and CEO, Sara.

This interview is in honor of a very, very special celebration we have going on here at The Stellar Teacher Company: we are turning 10 years old.

Sara, welcome back to your own podcast.

Sara
Thanks, Emily! It is honestly a little surreal to be welcomed as a guest to my very own podcast, but thank you for having me today.

Emily
Of course. Now, I shouldn’t get too used to this.

Sara
I mean, I don’t know—maybe you should.

Emily
So, I’m so excited today because we have spent some time collecting questions from our very own team and from our audience, and I’m just excited for our listeners to get a better understanding of who Sara is.

Sara
If I’m being honest, it’s a little bit weird to think that The Stellar Teacher Company is turning 10. I never intended to start a business—let alone have one that would be around for 10 years and now have a team of people working behind the scenes to really impact so many teachers. So in so many ways, it is a dream come true. It’s just a really fun celebration that we get to have this week.

Emily
Yeah, it’s such an incredible accomplishment, and I’m just so happy that I get to witness it.

Sara
Yeah, thank you.

Emily
All right—are you ready for some fun?

Sara
Let’s do it. I’m not going to lie—I’m a little bit nervous about these questions, but let’s jump in.

Emily
You’ll be okay. Okay, so to start off, a while back we were recording a podcast and I made a joke about how I needed a comprehensive list of all the places you’ve worked. But for real—can you walk us through a little bit about your education experience?

Sara
Yeah, this might take the entire show, but I’ll try to make it concise.

Emily
We might have to release an infographic with this.

Sara
Yeah, so first of all, I never intended to be a teacher in the first place. I went to college to pursue a biology degree with the hope of becoming a chiropractor.

Emily
What? I did not know that.

Sara
Yep, that was my plan. I, however, was a horrible college student, and I failed chemistry my first year. My advisor was like, “It does not seem like you’re in the right area. Is there something else you’d like to consider?”

My mom was a teacher. My grandma was a teacher. I don’t think I was super excited about the idea of being a teacher, but I thought, “Education sounds good. I’ll be able to get a job.” So I quickly shifted my focus in college, and once I got started on my education track, I became obsessed.

I went to college in a very small rural school—that’s also where I grew up. So when it came time to graduate, I thought, “I want to go teach somewhere where I can feel like I’m making a bigger impact.”

Even though I was an education major, I started my teaching career as part of the Teach For America corps, whose mission is to place teachers in underserved communities all around the country. When I applied for that program, I checked the box that said I was willing to go where the biggest need was. I thought, “I’m going on an adventure.”

And it just so happened that the biggest need was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So my first two years of teaching were in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was a second-grade teacher.

Emily
And you went to college in Minnesota?

Sara
Yep, Minnesota.

Emily
Wow. Big difference.

Sara
Yeah—big, big, big difference. I spent two years teaching second grade there. I absolutely loved it. I had a wonderful school, a wonderful principal. I gave 24/7 to my students. I was 100% in it.

After those two years, my Teach For America commitment was up, so the logical decision was to move back to Minnesota. I moved back and taught first grade at a charter school up in the Twin Cities area, specifically in Stillwater.

After being back for about a month, there was just something that wasn’t sitting right with me. I thought, “This just isn’t it.” I really missed my students. I really missed the community I had been a part of down there.

Emily
And you were too cold, probably.

Sara
And I was very cold, yeah. I remember telling my family around September—I hadn’t even been in school for a month—and I was like, “I’m letting you guys know that at the end of the school year, I am moving back to Louisiana, and that is where I’m going to live for the rest of my life.”

So anyways, I moved back to Louisiana. I taught another year of second grade with the same principal I had previously taught under. Then I moved into an instructional coaching role, still in Louisiana. Around that time, my husband and I were engaged and getting ready to get married, and he had just accepted a job in Chicago. So we moved to Chicago, and I got a job as an instructional coach for two years up there.

After that, we moved to Houston, and after being out of the classroom for a couple of years, I had really learned a lot. When you’re in a coaching role and supporting teachers, you’re able to see a lot of what is working in classrooms—and a lot of what’s not working. I saw some practices I used to use that weren’t really effective.

And I thought, “I want to go back into the classroom because I think I would be the best teacher ever.” So when we moved to Houston, I started working at a school as a second-grade teacher again because that was sort of my sweet spot.

A month and a half into that position, my principal tapped me on the shoulder and said, “We have a position that just opened up in fourth grade in the middle of the year. I need a really strong teacher. Will you take that spot?”

And if I’m being honest, I was terrified because fourth grade, to me, meant big kids. I’d never taught an upper grade before. But I loved it. And I feel like that was my favorite teaching experience ever. So I stayed in fourth grade—I think it was for about three years—and then after that, I became the assistant principal of that same school. I was the assistant principal for three years.

And the thing that kicked me out of the classroom was when my principal told me he was getting ready to retire and said he wanted me to be his retirement plan.

Emily
Ooh.

Sara
And I kind of had this moment of, “Do I want to be a principal? Is that what I want to do for the rest of my life?” And I didn’t.

I actually had some other career ambitions I wanted to pursue, but ultimately, I had started my TPT store—it was a very small thing at the time—and my husband said, “Look, if you work on this full time, just think of the impact you could have. Think of what you could grow.”

So when I left the school, that sort of became my focus. And here we are. That was in 2018, so I guess it’s been seven years since I’ve been doing this full time. Yep—seven years working in Stellar Teacher world full time.

Emily
Wow. So what was the one thing that made you say, “Okay, I can go all in on The Stellar Teacher Company”?

Sara
I mean, honestly, it was probably two things. One, just the encouragement from my husband, who’s very, very supportive. I think, like most teachers—especially those who are perfectionists and people-pleasers—I was really worried about leaving my school because I was going to be creating a need there and letting people down.

In a lot of ways, pursuing my business felt like a very selfish thing to do. It felt like a very “me” thing to do, and that was kind of a hard mindset to overcome. But he was very encouraging—just saying, “Think of the opportunities you can create for yourself.”

But I’ve always been a bit of an impact chaser. The whole reason why I joined Teach For America, or why I made any switch—whether it was from a classroom position to a coaching role—I would think, “I can have a bigger impact on the school if I’m a coach versus a classroom teacher.”

When I became assistant principal, I thought, “I can have a bigger impact on the school versus just my classroom.”

And so my husband said, “Think of all the teachers and students you could impact if you were creating your resources full time.”

And it’s funny because when I left teaching to do Stellar Teacher full time, I didn’t have a podcast, I didn’t have our membership—that wasn’t even a thing—and I didn’t have a team at all.

All of the things that have allowed us to make a big impact didn’t exist when I left. So I think it was really just my husband helping me see the vision for what was possible, and yeah—just sort of pushing me in that direction.

Emily
Wow. It feels like it was never linear, but it makes perfect sense now that you say you were just always looking to make more and more impact. I’m sure it’s kind of surreal for you to think about the impact that you do make now.

Sara
I’m always blown away. We’ve been doing some workshops this summer, and we’ve had teachers from Germany tuning in, or teachers from Australia. And I’m just like—it’s so cool that we’re able to connect with and support teachers from all over the world. It is both energizing and humbling at the same time.

Emily
It’s incredible. It really is. Okay, so let me ask you this: why literacy? Why not math or something else? Why literacy?

Sara
So this was also kind of an accidental thing. To be honest, I did not intentionally choose to go into literacy. I started my TPT store back in 2015, and at the time, I was still a classroom teacher. I was self-contained, so I taught everything—and I also created all of the resources.

I actually still have some very old math resources in the TPT store, and science and writing too. And I really enjoyed creating math resources the most. That was probably what I had the most of.

But I was in a peer mastermind group with other TPT sellers, and Brittany Hagee from Mix and Math—who has become one of my best in-real-life friends and best business friends—was in that group with me.

We would talk a lot about business, growth, and things we were working on. And she is a math genius—brilliant. As she shared things, I was not only learning about her business, but learning about math. And I had this realization: oh my gosh, I am not teaching math well.

I did not teach math well. I wasn’t doing it correctly in terms of building conceptual understanding. And I didn’t want to just make math resources to make money. If I couldn’t create math resources that truly helped students and teachers understand math at a deeper level, then I shouldn’t be in that space.

So honestly, it was really my relationship with her that helped me realize I am not the person to be creating math resources. And I thought, okay, if I’m not making math resources, then I need to go all in on literacy.

That’s how I ended up really niching down into literacy. And as a result, I’ve learned so much since being out of the classroom. I’ve become somewhat of a literacy expert because it’s the area I chose to focus on.

Emily
For sure, you are a literacy expert. And I know that so many people look to you for your expertise in literacy. So thank you to Brittany Hagee for pushing you toward literacy—because we would not be here without that sort of push.

So, were there any moments early on in The Stellar Teacher Company where you almost gave up, went back to the classroom, and what kind of kept you going?

Sara
Early on, it was just hard and exhausting because I was a team of one. And that’s how—well, not all—but a lot of businesses start, right? I was doing everything. I was creating, doing social media, answering emails.

And when I was still working in a school, I would also work four to six hours a night, all day Saturday, all day Sunday. There were a lot of years where I didn’t have any hobbies because this side hustle—this Teachers Pay Teachers store, Stellar Teacher—was my hobby.

It was really interesting because when I started doing this full time, I still kind of worked those same hours. It took me a couple of years to realize, wait a minute—I shouldn’t be spending all of my nights and weekends doing this thing.

That part was just really hard and exhausting. But there was a moment—I think it was probably 2020—when we were shifting in the literacy world from balanced literacy to the science of reading. That was a very scary moment for me because I had a business in the literacy space.

I remember we were doing a webinar, and someone in the comments asked, “Is this aligned to the science of reading?” And I was like—I’ve never heard this term before.

And I thought, people are coming to me for literacy help, support, and advice—and I haven’t even heard this term before. So I started doing some research and reading. Maybe not as much as I should have.

But at that time, I had my podcast, and I think it was September or October—I can’t even remember what episode it was specifically—but someone left me a one-star review on the podcast.

They basically said, “Don’t listen to this podcast. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Go listen to this podcast instead.”

And I remember getting that review and thinking, maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. Maybe I should just shut it all down and not do this—because maybe I really don’t know what I’m talking about.

Emily
Did you go and listen to that other podcast?

Sara
No, I didn’t. But what I did do—first of all, a one-star review hurts. It’s one of the challenges of being out there on the internet and putting yourself out there. Not everybody has nice things to say. But I look at that one-star review as almost a key point in my literacy growth journey, because I had some friends who were very encouraging.

Peyton was like, “You do know what you’re talking about.” And it was also like, “If you have more to learn, then learn it.” Right? I had a platform. Teachers were coming to me. So if there was knowledge that needed to be learned and shared, then I needed to do the work and pass it along to my audience.

That was the moment when I decided I was going to double down on the science of reading. I read and ordered so many books, attended tons of PD sessions, and I was like, “I’m going to figure this out.”

And honestly, that was probably one of the best things I could have done. I know so much more now about the science of reading. We’ve created so many training sessions, resources, and podcast episodes that I know have helped teachers.

So I think back to that one-star review—it could have been the end of Stellar Teacher, or it could be the thing that motivated me to take my own professional learning seriously and become someone teachers could look to when it comes to understanding how we should teach literacy in the classroom.

Emily
Wow. I mean, it’s like that old saying—let your haters be your motivators. I feel like we should find that person and send them a gift card. Thank you so much for pushing Sara!

What’s awesome about that moment is that as the world of literacy was shifting and evolving, you were learning right alongside everyone else and teaching what you were learning. Not only were you going through a big change yourself, but you were going through it with your audience. That’s really cool.

So I think you may have already answered this, but if you weren’t in the education world, what career would you want to pursue?

Sara
Yeah, I think about this a lot. On one hand, I can’t even imagine a life outside of education. I really believe all things happen for a reason—whether it’s divine intervention or whatever you want to call it—but I believe I was meant to be in education, supporting teachers.

When I left my role as an assistant principal, I actually started pursuing a career in personal training. I love working out, I love weightlifting, I love fitness. It’s always been something I’ve enjoyed, and I thought I’d make a really good personal trainer.

So I went down that rabbit hole. I was getting certified, and I actually already had a job lined up to be a fitness instructor with a boot camp in Houston. I was about a month and a half into that process when I tore my Achilles tendon.

Emily
Oh my goodness. Wow.

Sara
A full tear. Which meant I was immobile for three months, and it took a full six months before I could return to normal activity—and a full year before I could go back to sports or anything like that.

I kind of view that Achilles tear as the door closing on that path. Like, “Okay, I’m not pursuing anything in the fitness world.” That was meant to be a hobby, and education is where I need to put all my time and energy.

When that happened, I shifted gears and started focusing on building the Stellar Teacher business—working on the blog, the website, TPT, and all of that instead.

Emily
I mean, yeah, you couldn’t move. You probably just spent most of your time on the computer, right?

Sara
Absolutely, yeah. It worked out. But yeah, I always think, I would’ve loved to be a physical therapist, a personal trainer—something in that space. But then again, that’s my hobby. And if it were my job, it probably wouldn’t still be my hobby.

Emily
Some things are just meant to be enjoyable, right? And some things are meant to be painstaking, hard work—like your job.

Sara
Yeah.

Emily
So we know from listening to the podcast that reading and literature are such big parts of your life. Is there a book that really helped inspire the growth of your company?

Sara
That’s a good question. There have actually been a few. I’m an avid reader, and I’ve read so many business books. But I think there are three books that have had a huge impact on the business overall.

The first isn’t a business book at all—it’s The Reading Comprehension Blueprint by Nancy Hennessy. We share it a lot, and it was the very first science of reading book that I ever read. It really did two things for me.

One, it affirmed—this was back when I was, I don’t want to say having a mini crisis, but I was definitely questioning things. I was like, “Oh my gosh, what if I don’t know what I’m talking about?” But as I read through that book, I realized that a lot of the strategies and ideas in the science of reading were things I was already doing as a teacher and already encouraging other teachers to do. So it validated that, yes, I can be in this space and encourage teachers with accurate knowledge.

But it also gave me a much deeper understanding of areas like syntax—things I either didn’t know about or had forgotten about. That book really motivated me to dig in and learn more about the science of reading.

Another book that had a big impact is Who Not How by Dan Sullivan. I mentioned earlier that I started as a team of one, and this book introduced the idea that if I really want to grow the company, I need a team. So instead of asking, “How do I do this task?” it became, “Who do I need to hire to help me with this?”

When I started the podcast, it wasn’t, “How do I launch a podcast?” It was, “Who do I need to help me start one?” When we’re working on a curriculum project, it’s not, “How do I get this done?” It’s, “Who do I bring in to make it happen?”

That book really helped me develop a much broader vision for how we could grow the Stellar Teacher team. And the team of teachers behind Stellar Teacher is absolutely incredible. I feel so fortunate that I get to work with you all every day. That book was a game changer.

Then there’s Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. I knew nothing about running a business—and business finances are a big part of that, especially when you have a team of people who rely on the company’s success for their livelihood.

When I read that book, it gave me so much clarity on how to structure our business finances. As a side note, it also helped me gain a much better understanding of personal finance. I think that was kind of a bonus pivot point that helped me figure out how to set up our savings, expenses, and systems in a way that really worked for us.

I believe he has a Profit First book geared more toward individuals, not just business owners. So if you’re someone looking for insight and support around finances—especially since that’s not something they teach you in school, even though they should—it’s a great resource.

So yeah, I’d say those three books have been really helpful.

Emily
Wow. See, that’s what’s so impressive to me about you.

For so many people, something overwhelming like “How do I start a podcast?” or “How do I do taxes for my business?” would be a deal breaker. But not for you. Your ambition—and your passion for keeping the company thriving—you literally turn to literature to help you navigate all of it.

It’s just so inspiring, because so many people would have given up. But you didn’t.

Sara
I didn’t.

Emily
That’s awesome.

Sara
Thank you. I appreciate that.

Emily
Okay, so we’ve kind of talked about the last 10 years, but I think people really want to know: What’s next for our company? Do you have any big dreams for the next 10 years?

Sara
My dream list, my wish list, my planning list—it’s like a mile long. Sometimes I worry that I overwhelm the team with all of my ideas. Yeah, lots of big dreams for the next 10 years.

One, I hope that we’re still around. That’s sort of step number one—that we’re still a company in 10 years.

Some short-term things I would love for us to tackle: I would love to expand to K–2. We’ve always primarily been a 3–5 company, so I’d love to expand down to K–2. I’d also love to expand up to 6–8—just expand across grade levels.

We’ve gotten a lot of requests from teachers to do novel studies. We have these really amazing reading and writing units that are just beautiful and wonderful, and I would love to create novel and picture book companions to go with those—for teachers to use as an option.

This week we are releasing our Reading Intervention Kit, which is so exciting. It’s been a dream come true for a long time. There are two things I really want to do with that.

One, I want to get it printable. I want to have a physical product so teachers can order a spiral-bound teacher’s manual of that resource. And I also want to have decodables—actual book sets they can order to go along with those.

So those are some of the short-term projects we’ll be working on over the next couple of years.

But in general, I’m always so amazed that there are so many teachers willing to pay for our resources and our program out of their own pocket. And at the same time, I wish that wasn’t the case and that more schools would pick up the cost.

So when I think about where we’re going to be in 10 years, I would love for us to be on state-approved curriculum lists so schools could adopt our program and resources, and teachers wouldn’t have to spend their own money.

That’s the big dream—in 10 years, where are we headed? State takeovers. Stellar Teacher will be in classrooms, with states or districts funding it, all across the country.

Emily
That sounds amazing.

Sara
And then, of course, expanding our team. That’s been one of my favorite things—maybe even a surprise. I love growing a team. I always get so excited thinking about who else we’re going to add.

You all just provide… I don’t know. The resources you make are so much better than anything I ever created. The ideas you bring, the collaboration—it’s incredible. So definitely growing our team over the next 10 years as well.

Emily
Those all sound awesome, and I hope I can be involved in all of them.

Sara
I hope you’re along for the ride too!

Emily
Okay, so now I have some fun questions for you. This is a question from our audience: What was your favorite classroom theme that you had?

Sara
This one is easy to answer. When I was a second-grade teacher in Houston, I only had this classroom for like two and a half months, but it was the absolute cutest. It was black and white polka dots with splashes of blue and yellow.

I made my own curtains for the classroom. I made pillows. I went all out. It was so cute. And like I said, I was only in that classroom for about two and a half months—and then I left it all to go to fourth grade, which was… not as cute.

Emily
Is there something you have in your current office that always makes you smile?

Sara
Probably my plants. I have one over there, and there’s another over here. I love plants. I just feel like they’re… I don’t know, life-giving. I mean, literally, they kind of are. But just having something that feels very real—so yeah, I think my plants are probably my favorite part of my office.

Emily
Keeps you in reality. Touch grass.

Sara
Yeah.

Emily
If your life right now had a theme song, what would it be?

Sara
Okay, this one is hard. The first song that comes to mind is “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. One, it’s my favorite song to dance to at weddings.

But also, if I think about the business—just the idea of don’t stop believing. Whatever your dreams are, there are going to be bumps along the road, but just hold on to the hope and the vision you have for the future. So yeah, that would be it right now.

Emily
That’s a good answer. Mine would have to be “I’m a Survivor”—you know, with a toddler and a newborn.

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Sara
Can I say neither? I mean, I used to love the idea of waking up early, and I operate better in the morning. But I feel like I don’t sleep as well as I used to, so now I’m like—I need to sleep as long as I can in the morning just to get seven hours. But yeah, if I had to choose, I would rather wake up early than stay up late. I cannot stay up late. It’s like, Friday night, 9 p.m., I’m passed out on the couch. But Saturday morning, 6 a.m., I’ll be wide awake. I might be tired, but I’ll be wide awake. So yeah, morning person.

Emily
Okay, idealist morning person.

Sara
I’m ideally a morning person, yeah. It’s not always the reality, but yeah, I’m an idealist morning person. I like that clarification.

Emily
Okay, so this goes back to when you were in the classroom—but was there a school supply that you were, like, unreasonably passionate about?

Sara
Post-it notes. And I still am. My husband is always making fun of the amount of Post-it notes we have in our house. I mean, I love—

Emily
They’re everywhere?

Sara
Oh, they’re everywhere, yeah. And I use them, too. I love the little tiny ones. I love the big ones. I love the ones with lines. I love the giant ones that are super sticky. Post-it notes—I had so many Post-it notes.

Emily
Do you have them all over your computer?

Sara
Yes. My to-do lists are on Post-it notes. I would stack them up, and I didn’t ever want to throw them away. I was kind of a Post-it note hoarder. I also didn’t want to use the really pretty Post-it notes I had gotten—so I would just hold on to them and not use them. But yeah, Post-it notes.

Emily
Are you an investor in Post-it notes?

Sara
I’m not, but maybe I need to be.

Emily
Oh, I love this question. What advice would you give to someone—like maybe a first-year teacher, or somebody who’s just now discovering the Stellar Teacher Collective?

Sara
Ooh, if you are just discovering Stellar Teacher—welcome. I think any advice, whether you’re a new teacher or if you’re new to the Stellar Teacher world—we’ve talked about this during our book study, and I feel like it fits here: go as slow as you need to, but as fast as you can.

I think so often in education, we get overwhelmed feeling like we have to do all of the things right now—like I have to know everything today. And the reality is, we have limited time, limited brain power, limited energy, and so you can’t do everything.

Just allow yourself to enjoy the journey. Learn about the things you want to learn about. Discover the new resources. Try something new. But don’t feel the pressure that on day one you need to be an expert at everything you’re doing.

Emily
Great advice. Just take it one step at a time. And I love that quote—go as slow as you need to, but as fast as you can.

Sara, thank you so much for doing this interview. I am so excited that our audience gets to have a glimpse into who you are, because you are just so incredibly passionate and ambitious, and overall, just such a wonderful coach and a wonderful person. I’m so glad our teachers got to learn a little bit more about you. So thank you so much for doing this interview today.

Sara
Thank you. Thanks for having me on the show, Emily. It was great to be here.

Emily
I’ll give you your podcast back next week.

Sara
All right. I was going to say—we’ll see everybody back here next week. And for those of you joining us this week for our Happy Birthday Bash, our Stellar Teacher Birthday Bash, we of course hope that you have a great time. You know, everything we put together is ultimately for our teachers.

Emily
So exciting, and such a wonderful time of celebration for the Stellar Teacher Company. Congratulations on 10 years, Sara.

Sara
Thank you.