With “Childlike Wonder and Real Life Solutions,” Bright Light Early Care & Education Offers Premium Childcare for Families

Lindsey Potter, owner and director of Bright Light Early Care & Education (ECE), has created the type of childcare center parents dream of sending their children when they head off to work – a safe, loving, reliable, professional, and relationship-based environment where students explore, learn, and grow. This “premium” center is literally a bright light – in name and actions – in a world where childcare has become a necessity, not an option.

Thirty-two employees, ranging from “casual” to full time, staff Bright Light ECE’s two locations – one at the historic Sullivan Dairy Barn in Battle Creek; the other at the Purdy Learning Center, also in Battle Creek. At each location, great care is taken in providing children with wonderment, play-based learning, and enriching experiences.

In addition to running and owning Bright Light ECE, Potter spends a great deal of time advocating for better childcare policy and reducing the obstacles for owners, which won her SBAM’s 2026 Advocate of the Year award.

We asked Potter about her many advocacy roles, what it was like to restore an historic building, and how she ensures healthy relationships with families:

Focus: Bright Light ECE is a model for premium childcare. How did you set about building your business?

Potter: Bright Light was built out of an early career within the early childhood field. I started in public education in Olivet, Michigan where my love for the development and education of young children bloomed within a rural community focused on connection and growth. For close to 10 years I was a preschool teacher in this community and experienced watching cousins, best friends, and little siblings grow and flourish in my classroom. 

During this time my own children were attending home-based childcare in a nurturing environment focused on the skills of childhood – healthy food, outside time, and good naps. These early experiences of connectedness and family led me to look at our regional childcare models, which mostly are single-age centers, leading me to build something different on purpose.

I was blessed to be the daughter of a builder and an accountant. I paired that upbringing with my experiences in early education, and we set out to build Bright Light. We built it based on a solvent business lens first, added effective childcare components, and then found ourselves a suitable space to call home.

A mentor along the way shared the idea of “premium” childcare and asked the question, “If you can be any representation of the product in the industry, why not be the sought after one?” And so the story was written.

Focus: Tell us about transforming the historic Sullivan Dairy Barn into one of your education centers.

Potter: “Oh the Barn…” – that phrase has been repeated in a variety of tones through the years! The Barn has a long history built around horses delivering milk to Battle Creek City residents from 1921 until the early 1950’s, then it was abandoned until it was brought back to life by developers – much ahead of their time – in the early 2000’s. This group rehabbed the barn into office space and fully utilized all 12,000 square feet until COVID hit, at which point the barn became empty-ish again. Around this time Bright Light was really growing its legs and was looking for property to call home for 20 plus staff and approximately 100 children.

The same group that brought life back to the barn in the early 2000s offered to work alongside our childcare startup and help with property modifications on the lower two levels, turning 8000 square feet into a grand childcare space with ample light, high ceilings and playful wall coverings. Now this barn hears the pitter patter of approximately 90 children every day. It does, indeed, remind me of home. Turns out as a young girl, in this very barn, I had regularly eaten Oreos from a cookie jar in the accounting office my mother worked in!

Focus: Consistency of staff is important for every small business, but especially in a childcare setting. How do you keep employees motivated and excited about their work?

Potter: Staffing at Bright Light has been reimagined in a structured way. Our classrooms are operated with a multi-age approach which means that each room contains a variety of daily routines and experiences. From a staff member’s daily perspective this means that a baby snuggle and a power struggle with a 2-year-old could happen alongside helping a 1-year-old learn to walk.

Our multi-faceted classroom approach allows us to increase class sizes but also means there are more staff to oversee each room. For instance, our early care rooms have 12 children from six weeks up to three years old with three staff dedicated to their care. These staff members sort their day based on routine and the personal needs of the children, but they also have flexibility and can trade responsibilities in and out for their personal preferences and strengths. Much of our staff has been with us since 2023, so it seems to be working. They are sticking around!

Focus: What do you do every day to ensure healthy dynamics/ relationships with your families?

Potter: Families who leave their most valuable thing – their children – in our care each day is a great honor! And at Bright Light we recognize this honor and the trust they place in us. 

Our staff strives for professionalism and has well-rooted confidence helping children and families meet their developmental goals. Collectively, our staff has over 75 years of experience. The honor also comes with a sense of respect – many parents are on their first go-round parenting when they enter the childcare world. In childcare the balance between love, trust, and growth is always tenuous, but Bright Light leads with curiosity and compassion.
Focus: You recently graduated from the SBAM Foundation’s Women’s Entrepreneurial Fellowship. What are the most valuable insights you gained during that process?

Potter: The Fellowship was so meaningful and rewarding! As a group of second-stage business owners, we bonded over shared experiences, leading, building, guiding, and always editing our daily best practices at work. Dreaming big and looking toward the future are 100% what the Fellowship is about, and the best part is that it represents so many sectors and industries across Michigan! 

My largest take away from the Fellowship was learning to be open and willing to go for the yes, even if you get a no. Without steady action and courage – and a bit of luck – progress can feel daunting and suffocating. The key is trying.

Focus: You were also named SBAM’s 2026 Small Business Advocate of the Year for your work in reducing obstacles for Michigan’s childcare providers. Tell readers about things you’ve done to earn this distinction.

Potter: My own words may pale in comparison to the kind words Kelli Saunders and Sarah Miller have shared on my behalf, but I truly have spent much of the last two years advocating for the childcare industry alongside my colleagues.

As the president of the ChildCare Providers Association of Michigan and the chair of the Childcare Policy Council at SBAM, my platform to stay relevant with my heavily regulated industry quite literally abounds. From a testimony at a Rules Committee hearing to my aunt calling late one evening, saying, “I saw you on TV again,” my goal of speaking up for childcare is for the sake of the whole system. When childcare works, we all work. When we all work, our society – at all levels – thrives.

I asked the attendees at the SBAM meeting last May to imagine a day without their work BFF because their childcare cancelled. That’s the platform I strive to make real as SBAM’s Advocate of the Year. Every time someone wants me to talk about early education and childcare as societal infrastructure, I jump at the chance!

Focus: You mentioned being appointed as the inaugural chair of SBAM’s Childcare Policy Council. How do you hope your work impacts the childcare challenges facing our state and nation?

Potter: As a community, region, state and nation, childcare sits invisibly at the heart of the daily life of families and individuals, and nothing taught us this more than the COVID crisis. When available childcare returned, so did the work force. 

As the chair of SBAM’s Childcare Policy Council, I hope to be a clear voice on all levels as we develop and enact new policy and redesign the system to meet our current economic and societal needs. In the end, I view the safe care and education of young children as invaluable as the roads in Michigan!

By Bona Van Dis, Editor of Focus; originally published in SBAM’s September/October 2026 issue of FOCUS magazine.

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