Shaketha Marion McGregor had a surprise prepared for her children when they came home on a recent Tuesday this August. Namely: A job fair for the coveted positions of laundry supervisor, kitchen manager and lead housekeeper.
The clever Georgia mom even set up a credit union so that they could improve their credit and have a place to hold their earnings. The reason? Her three kids – Jahkeem, 13, Takeia, 10 and Serinity, 6 – had been asking mom for money and new phones for weeks. So McGregor decided to get creative and hold interviews for the jobs available in their own home.
McGregor recognized the opportunity for what it was. “I was thinking, that there’s a way we can all get what we want. There needed to be more housework done at home, and they wanted money,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle.
The children were given job applications to fill out, complete with descriptions of prior work experience, desired salary and availability. Then, they went to their private interviews in her room.
Her oldest and youngest applied for the same position of lead housekeeper, and McGregor was surprised to find her 6 six-year-old conducted herself more professionally. While she told her oldest that he could have a repeat interview – due to the fact that he reportedly laughed through the majority of his first one – Serinity ended up landing the job Jahkeem had applied for. (Perhaps this time he’ll apply for the kitchen manager position.)
Luckily, employees were asking salaries of $10/week, $15/week and $20/month. However, the kiddos were quick to ask for benefits as well, including their phone bills, in the requested incomes.
Since posting the idea of an at-home job fair on her Facebook, McGregor has gone viral, been asked to interview with news outlets like and officially added “manages This Mom Means Business Inc.” to her Facebook work history. Her comment board is full of encouraging parents who want to implement similar tactics.
“This right here could be the beginning of old-school work ethic, taking responsibility and self-reliance just for starters!” wrote one commenter.
Another chimed in, “Congratulations on such a brilliant idea and contribution. You are raising three winners because their mom is a WINNER! You are making a difference!”
Really, McGregor was simply trying to teach her children a lesson about making good financial decisions.
She learned how difficult saving up can be when she was trying to correct a low credit score from frivolous spending in her 20s, Yahoo reports – along with battling the medical expenses of breast cancer and becoming homeless with her children after her house burned down. McGregor has seems to have faced all of these difficulties head on, working hard the whole time to raise her kids and get herself into a comfortable place financially.
She also never gave up on her personal goals, writing two books – Mirror Mirror: My Story, Your Revelation and the children’s religious book How Do I Pray? – and working with her community to empower children and parents. Currently, she’s working with local hairstylists to help teach parents to do their kids’ hair at home to save money, and she runs a youth empowerment group called “I Can Do All Things.”
McGregor is no stranger to working hard to achieve her goals, save money and make sure her family is taken care of. Now she has gained some well-earned fame for trying to teach her kids the same values.
