Building the School Her Son Needed with Mily Pérez

0:00Welcome to the Liberated Podcast brought to you by the Education Entrepreneurship Lab at P. Hello, everyone. I am Carrie McDonald, Director of the Education Entrepreneurship Lab at the Foundation for Economic Education. And I'm delighted to interview today's guest, Millie Perez, the founder of Athena Micro Academy of Austin, which is a Microschool for students in grades 6 through 12th in Austin, Texas, that Millie launched just one month ago on August 3rd, 2026. Millie was born and raised in Texas and has served K to 12 students for over 20 years. She earned her master's degree in Educational Leadership and is a certified teacher and principal in Texas who has taught in and led premier private schools in the Austin and Houston areas.

1:01Millie Perez, welcome to the Liberated Podcast. Thank you, Carrie. It's a pleasure to be here. It's a pleasure to have you here. I am so excited to hear about your launch and especially these initial few days since opening your door doors. So we'll get to that in a bit. But let's start, Millie, with a little bit of your background of what made you decide to go into education to begin with, kind of earlier in your career. I think it all started with my own experience as a student. Like you said, I grew up in Houston, Texas, so I went to HISD schools. Middle school was a little bit challenging for many reasons. I went to a very large urban middle school. And I noticed right away that not all of my peers were particularly interested in the academic programming. There were other challenges happening in people's lives.

2:03And so it's understanding why they would be distracted by other things or they were into other things. I knew in my heart of hearts that I liked school. I liked it a lot. And so one day this little private school, East of Houston, came and kind of did a presentation at my middle school. And it was a school with a funny name. It was called, or it is called, Chinkwapin Preparatory School. And I thought, okay, this is kind of weird, but I listened to the presentation. I thought, okay, cool. I went home, told my mom about it. And she's like, actually, I heard about it on the radio. And I was like, oh, okay. So there was a different application process. I had never had any experience with the private schools. My mother did neither. And so we just kind of went in and just trying to figure it out. Like, okay, what is this? And it was a private school, also a boarding school. And it's mission was to provide a college preparatory education to students from Greater

3:07Houston who wouldn't otherwise have the resources to access schools like the King Cates School or Saint John School in Houston, but who were really interested in going to college. And so I was like, that's me. I want to do this. I don't even know what college is, but I want to go there. And I think that's when my world just changed. It was a small school, about 120 students total, grade six through 12, the teachers lived on campus. And so we had, it was a different relationship that we developed with our teachers. It was a different relationship that we developed with our administrators and our director and co-director. The school was led by two directors, husband and wife. And I just loved it. I just didn't know that something like that existed. The challenge was that it was 25 miles east of Houston. And so there was quite a distance. And so taken the bus every day and then busking home.

4:07My route to school was about an hour in the morning and then about an hour and a half or two hours in the afternoon every day. It was a boarding school for boys only. So the girls we had to commute. And there was one bus that rotated all around Houston to pick us up and drop us off. And Houston is a very large city. So it took us a minute. Anyway, I went to college. I went to UT Austin and I wanted to be a teacher. My father didn't love that idea because he thought, well, you know, in this country, you know, teachers are not the most respected professionals. I really wanted something where he thought everyone is going to respect you. You know, I was the first in my family to go to college. He wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer. And I knew I wanted to be a teacher. But I trusted. I was like, let me try something else. I entered up graduating from college. I tried a couple of jobs. I wasn't in love with it. So I ended up getting my alternative certification. I was like, I'm going to go with my gut.

5:07So that's when I went into education and I never looked back. And I knew I wasn't a light teaching because during college, I worked at a high school. I trivised high school for a couple of years. And I also worked at Barbara Jordan Elementary for a year. So even through my college years, I was already working in schools and I already knew that I liked it. But I was trying to follow my parents kind of vicarious, you know, desires for me. So she says, there were the ones paying for my college. Anyway, that's how it all started. So then I ended up, you know, getting my certification, started in a big public school in the Houston area. And then Chiang Quapin, my alma mater called me and said, hey, I hear you're teaching. So and so is going to retire. How do you about coming back to us? And so working in private schools since then, I've never gone back. And so small private schools just have been kind of a part of my history.

6:09So it sounds like such a rewarding experience for you working as an educator and then working in these private schools, including your alma mater. So why create your own? So like you said, I've been in this trajectory for over 20 years. I've worked with high school, middle school, lower school. I worked in small private schools, large private schools, low income private schools, very wealthy, you know, high resource schools. And I thought, well, I kind of, you know, I've worked for other people's missions and visions. And I've embodied those and I've been, you know, working towards those in earnest. And I think I just got to a season in my life where I kind of wanted to do something of my own. And my mother was an entrepreneur for many years. And so when I heard, I'm a talk, you know, I heard a podcast.

7:12I forget the name of it right now, but I'll have to search for it. And I heard him talking about my school was, I was like, oh, wait, I can combine my, you know, my rich knowledge and history of education and teaching and curriculum development. And I can also kind of do something of my own. Like how fascinating is that? So I thought I want to create a mission and vision of my own and apply all my life lessons, my professional lessons. And also my personal lessons with raising, I currently have a 16 year old who's a junior in high school and taking what I've learned as a mother, as a parent of a kid who's thrived in traditional school molds, but who has hated it. He does not love traditional schools. He just, it doesn't mesh well with the way his brain works. And it took me a long time to understand that because I was such a good student. I was a idiot student. I did everything people told me.

8:13I never challenged the status quo. He was, he challenged the status quo. And I was like, okay, I got to think about this differently. And so, you know, he tried a couple of private schools into some degree that were very helpful to him. But he just always, I wanted to create something that I knew that the lios of the world would love. And so as I'm creating something and I open the doors, I'm walking the walk. So I'm saying this to you and my son is a part of this. And so, you know, what I wanted to also show to myself, my son, and everybody else is that I'm doing this in earnest with all my heart, with all my, like, just kind of pouring myself into it because I'm putting my own child through this. So, you know, you know, I am, I think I wanted to demonstrate to people that I am doing all the things to make sure that this is a really positive experience for everybody. Even if I didn't have my kid over there, but I think it just speaks volumes when you're

9:15when you, you know, your own kiddo was a part of the journey as well. Incredible. So you just opened last month, you have about five students and a few more in the pipeline, but you do want to stay intentionally small, at least for this first year. And so is your 16 year old a part of that five person cohort? 100%. Yeah. Oh, terrific. Incredible. So, Millie, you mentioned Amar. That's Amar Kumar, the CEO and founder of Kipod Learning and the Kipod Catalyst Program, which helps aspiring founders, kind of entrepreneurial parents and educators who are curious about what it takes to open a micro school to get from idea to launch successfully and sustainably. So you saw that or heard this podcast about Kipod and and are talking about micro schooling. And then you joined the Catalyst Program. I guess what happened next between listening to that episode, learning about micro schooling

10:17and then beginning the kind of pre-launch process? I learned about a year ago, well, actually two marches ago, not this past March, but last March that my husband needed to move back to Austin. And so I thought, what am I going to do? So I started doing some research. I started doing some reading and figuring out, I started looking for jobs. Nothing was resonating. So I started listening to podcasts. I mean, something has to be out there. Something has to resonate kind of called to me. And so I ran across this podcast inadvertently. It was a podcast about what teachers were doing after COVID and how teachers were changing their kind of career trajectories and they were kind of choosing other things. So I listened to it, I think I was washing dishes or something like that. And I heard this podcast and I've said this before, but just Almer's cadence and the way he explains things is just so kind of appealing to me. Like I just really liked the way he broke things down and explained it bit by bit.

11:17So he caught my ear and so I thought, okay, and maybe this is a conversation I can open with by my husband. But the first thing I thought was like the financial piece. This is me having no income probably for some time or very limited income. And I was coming from a head of school position. So that would be kind of a financial switch for my family there. And so I thought, okay, that seemed appealing to me. I thought if I could join a cohort of people who are all doing this together and kind of a support system, maybe I can do this. I thought about starting a school even years ago. My husband was like, oh my gosh, we're never going to see you. I think it was like, I don't know, eight years ago that I said this. And I just didn't have the courage to do it, because I didn't, where do I start? What is the first step? And so I continued working for schools and doing what I love.

12:20But this was the moment for me where I thought, I think I can do this. I have the 20, I have two decades under my belt. I have a husband who is supporting this journey. Okay, that was really important to me. So I feel like I had the foundational pieces. Now you're telling me that if I join this cohort, I have this group of professionals whose job it is to help us launch. And they have skin in the game for this. That allowed me to trust that process. That allowed me to at least engage and apply for the catalyst program. And I thought, okay, well, worse scenario, I paid for the catalyst program. I ended up deciding against it. And I just, you know, I learned a few lessons and I just move on. But I really liked it. I really liked the staff at the catalyst program. I really liked the way the modules were set up for us. There was a learning journey. It was like a course. I really liked all the intentionality behind it. Obviously they had done this before.

13:22And so they were coming from a place of understanding and knowledge. I wasn't being educated by like, you know, business folk or lawyers. These were people who have been in education. And so I thought, these are people who was advice I can trust. And so that was, that was to me, a big draw. And so I did that program for a year. And so it was really nice because I'm a planner at heart. I don't like to do things just willingly. I need to have a plan. I need to kind of see it. I need to envision it. I need time for my brain to percolate on things. And so it really allowed me a whole year of building that foundation to then say, okay, I'm ready. And so this summer, that's kind of where I was. I was like, okay, I'm ready to do this. Let's rock and roll. Incredible. So it sounds then like the first step, at least for you, in opening a new school was to join the Catalyst Program

14:22and kind of be a part of that community of founders and founder supporters. From your perspective, kind of on the ground of the practicalities of opening a new school in Austin, what were some of those sort of pre-launch challenges for you? I think finding the location was difficult. It was, I think the entrepreneurial side of things because I'm so new to that game, there was a lot of cognitive load there. It was just like one new thing after another, after another. Unfamiliar topic, after unfamiliar topic. So learning about zoning and learning about permitting and learning about things like that. Luckily, because I had run a school before, I was familiar with the fire code and fire safety things. I was familiar with like a bunch of other pieces, but the finding my own location and thinking of all those things,

15:26I think for me finding the location was probably the most challenging. One, yeah, for sure. So once you got the location, what did you choose or what did you find for a location? Yeah, I found that Austin, Texas, is what I've facetiously have mentioned is disrespectfully high rent. It is just so expensive. And I thought, okay, I like to be a very budget conscious person and I want to be very realistic about things. Like I said, I'm a planner. I think things through. I like to be careful about my decisions. And so I thought, okay, rent is just not gonna work. I mean, the rates were like $4,000 and $5,000 a month. And I'm like, oh my gosh, but if I'm starting with just a handful of kiddos, how am I going to afford that? I'm gonna be so stressed about making rent that I'm not gonna be able to have the capacity to think about the learning and the program development. And I'm a one person operation,

16:27so I really needed to build that capacity. So with Kipod, I learned that finding other, location alternatives such as churches was a really good starting point. And so I started doing a little homework and looking for churches in the nearby area and seeing if they had any classroom spaces that maybe are just not being used during the week and that they wouldn't mind sharing a space. And because it is a shared space, the rent can be a little bit lower. And so it just becomes more practical and just a much more pragmatic approach for a launching school, right? And so that's what I ended up doing. And even though my program is secular and I tell all the families and the church staff, they all know it is a secular program. It is located at a church. And I am so lucky that this church is like five miles from my house. So for Austin traffic, that is just perfect.

17:31Terrific. So you got this great location. How did you go about attracting kind of your founding families of which you are one because you're a son is a party program? But I would imagine that that, at least for prospective founders, could seem a bit daunting. How do you kind of hang your shingle out and hope people are attracted to your program? Yeah. So I think I can speak from a parent perspective because I've had my own experiences looking for programs for my own son. I was very, I wanted to be very thoughtful about, if someone, I would kind of test my own husband, right? Because my own husband, he's very honest about, his opinions and I kind of wanted to test that out. But I wanted to make sure that my program was well thought out. I really wanted to make sure I had all the pieces and everything felt good in my heart. Like I didn't want to just, you know, blabber about something that, you know,

18:33where you over promise and underliver. That's not my style. I wanted to make sure that everything was concrete. Everything was, you know, I did a lot of vetting and, you know, curriculum hunting and all these other things. I researched a lot about, you know, what schedules worked for students that just think a little bit differently or operate a little bit differently. I did a lot of research about what really helps with, you know, neurodivergent brains because the pieces that work for neurodivergent brains lo and behold, actually work for those of us that are neuro-typical, right? And so just learning about those pieces. So once I had that foundation, I was able to then talk to parents. I did a lot of marketing on the socials. I did a lot of kind of dropping, you know, just kind of old school dropping off flyers around Austin. Kind of talking to my friends to see if they can kind of help me spread the word. So I love grassroots marketing because, you know, the budget is limited. And just kind of went from there. Because the Calis program also allowed me to be Tefa approved or credited.

19:34I was able to be in Tefa approved school. So in Texas, that was great because you had a lot of new parents to Tefa, or, you know, Tefa was a new program. So you had a lot of these parents who were looking for options. And, you know, they were new to the private school scene. And so kind of marketing myself on the Odyssey page and then marketing myself with Kipod. And then just really pushing on the socials and connecting with people on Facebook groups. And so that's kind of how I got the word out. And once families came to me, I think I was just really speaking for my heart. Like, here's what I have. Here's what we're going to do. Here's what my vision is. And I would love for you to join me if this sounds like a good fit. And you mentioned Tefa, that's the Texas education. Freedom accounts, the new school choice program in Texas that enables a portion of education allocated funding, sorry, state allocated education funding to follow families to their preferred schooling environment for their kids. So it's great that your families are already able

20:36to access some of those programs and those policies. And so what, tell me a little bit more about the families that are attracted to your program. Are they coming from traditional schools? And why were they looking for something different? Yeah. You know, I have a small pool of kiddos to speak from, but even within that small pool, they have very diverse backgrounds. So I have a couple of students who are coming from the public school system. Just, you know, AISD schools here in Austin. I have a couple of schools that are coming from, you know, private schools or have another kiddo who's from another micro school capped out at eighth grade. And so they needed a ninth grade. Okay. Yeah. And so there is a little bit of everything. The families that are coming from AISDs, the things they're saying to me, this is not what, you know, I'm not, you know, downplaying or down crediting anything

21:39that AISDs or the public schools do. But the things that they were saying is, you know, my child is, it feels like they're just a number. They, it seems like they're being overlooked. They're, they're being distracted by what else, you know, social things and other things going on in our community and our culture. And so I really wanted, and I'm speaking from their, on their behalf, I really wanted them to have someone who's paying a little bit more attention to them and who's, you know, doing the, you know, work and someone who's really monitoring their progress. And so, and also someone who's going to be a little bit more flexible and, you know, with their, you know, maybe they have a learning difference and a little bit more understanding and just make it feel like, hey, that's just, there's just, you know, the way your brain works. That's okay, let's figure out a way to make sure that you're productive, but make sure that you have a comfy, joyful space where you can do that, where you get your learning done.

22:40Just amazing. So you've now been operating for a few weeks. What have these initial weeks looked like for you? What's any surprises? You know, anything that, that you've been particularly proud of, tell us a little bit about what this initial launch phase has looked like. I think I'm, I'm really proud of the culture we're creating. I think that every morning we have a little bit of a morning meeting, I call it kind of the activation mode to just, you know, the kids are arriving. One of them has a little macha tea and the other one has a little breakfast taco. And so I give them a minute to just catch the breath, eat their breakfast, sip on their macha, you know, think like that. And then we have either announcements or upcoming, you know, upcoming things or we talk about something that happened a day before that I had been reflecting on. I was like, hey, guys, this thing that happened yesterday, let's talk about that. How can we do that better? And so just building a culture of learners,

23:43it's not just like, here's what the teacher said you're gonna do and here's what you're gonna do. It's like we're in, I want them to feel like they're, they're a part of something. And so really building up that culture and really differentiating from maybe another school. But for me, attitude is so important. It's so important. Because when kids come to me, I want them to feel like, I can breathe here. I can be myself here. And I don't have to worry about who's gonna make fun of what I said or who's gonna comment on, you know, the t-shirt I was wearing in a negative way. I want them to feel like I can be a kid. I can focus on learning and I can have some joy while doing it. And I'm also gonna have, you know, breaks when I need a break. I'm also gonna be able to snack if I'm feeling a little hungry without having to be asking for permission for that. And so that is something I'm really, really proud of.

24:44And I'm also very protective of. I, you know, when I talk about a student who apply, I really look for that fit, that, you know, that fit and that belonging to make sure that the culture stays warm, welcoming and joyful. That is very, very important to me. Well, I know you're just in the early stages of the new school year, but if you look ahead to the future for Athena Micro Academy, what are your plans and hopes? You know, I think I have this conversation when my husband about once a week. You know, I don't know. I'm kind of working through that. I'm kind of thinking through the different pieces. I am such a, I kind of ruminate on things, I carry some just like, okay, and I kind of go this way and I kind of let that perglade and then I try this out and then I go in that direction. So I'm just kind of trying different things out in my mind,

25:47in my mind's eyes, so to speak. I do know, what I do know is that the cultural piece I don't want to lose. I also know that the size is really important to me, the size of the pods, because once you get a little bit large, that quality, no matter how hard we work, it really, and I've seen this in different capacities in my professional history, once you get a little bit big, that quality really dilutes. It really does. Another thing I feel strongly about is that I don't want to have multiple locations, because I've seen schools in multiple locations and each location will have its own culture. So if I did do that, I would have to be real careful to make sure that the culture is the same in multiple locations. Otherwise, I would kind of envision one building or one schoolhouse, so to speak, where you have the different grades and the different classrooms, but all in one space,

26:48where I can make sure that my mission and vision is embodied every day. So I think there's some pieces of the puzzle that I do know are fairly non-negotiable, and I say fairly non-negotiable, because I think in this edge of per-nure world, I have to be a little bit flexible too, and I understand that, but if I could wave my magic wand, those would be some non-negotiables. And then for me, the other piece that I look forward to is hiring people that are also the right fit, because it doesn't matter if you're a low resource school or a high resource school. If you have the right people in place, the students are gonna have an amazing time. And so you have to hire the right people who understand the mission and vision and have alignment with the mission and vision, and really see themselves being able to kind of walk that walk.

27:49One of the things that I think is really great about your model for Athena Micro Academy is that it's six through 12, so you're serving high schoolers, and a lot of today's emerging schooling models are more focused on elementary school students, with often the idea that they'll expand as they go, but often start with the earlier grades and then move their way up. And here you are starting sort of middle and high school grades. What would you say to potential founders who are listening who are also eager to create a middle school or high school model, but might be intimidated, especially in those high school years? What would you say to them and sort of advice for serving those older students? I love working with middle and high school kids. I really do. And I love to create opportunities where high school students are role models and exemplars for the middle school students.

28:50And so to me, it's an exciting idea that when I have a leadership program in the afternoon where we talk about we have round table discussions. I read articles because we need to make sure that our students are reading daily. And we discuss, we have discussions. And I have a table where I have high school students and middle school students discussing the same topics. And they're able to contribute at their capacity, at their developmental capacity, but they're able to contribute. And they see that their contributions are just as important. And so to me, I love to see that. I love to see that camaraderie and the collegiality between the students. And I love that the students are learning to be leaders whether they already were accustomed to that or this is new to them. They're leaders in my school. And I'm developing and I'm giving them skills and I'm talking about having conversations so that they feel that their contributions really matter.

29:51And so for me, if I'm offering advice to someone who is kind of having trepidations about middle school or high school, maybe start at the middle school and kind of allow the grades to kind of add. So maybe it's a slower, kind of a slower country. For me, I knew that I was very comfortable with middle in high school. So I say we're doing both of them at the same time. I love working with high school. But because of my own experience as a mother in middle school, middle school was hard. Middle school was tough. And I really, really, in my heart of hearts wanted to provide parents a safe, tranquil environment. They were, they can drop off their kid and feel at ease that they're going to be taken care of starting in sixth grade. Because sixth grade and seventh grade, they are very challenging. Not necessarily academically, but socially. It's a lot. So anyway, if someone's having trepidations, I would say start with sixth and as seventh and eighth.

30:52And so that way you're kind of growing with them and you're seeing their development, their age, their developmental progress as you go. That would be my advice. And then in terms of college or career readiness at the high school level, what does that look like from a curriculum perspective or just sort of pedagogically for you? Yeah. I kind of do backwards design, right? When I talk to families that they're on board with me, I ask them, what are the aspirations for after high school? Then I know how to then set them up for that success. So if someone said I really want them to apply to be able to apply and successfully be admitted to a four year college, OK, now I know what the graduation requirements needed for that to be possible. So they could be a competitive applicant in college. If their answer is I would like for them to take some community college courses, OK, well then I know what how to line up the courses

31:53to make sure that they get to that place. And so for me, I just kind of start backwards and talk to the parents and the student about their aspirations and do a backwards design as far as curriculum-wise, what are they going to need to be able to accomplish that goal? I love that. So, Millie, if my listeners and viewers want to learn more about Athena, micro-academy of Austin, follow your progress, connect with you, what is the best way for them to do that? Absolutely, thank you for asking. I'm on social media, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram. If they're on the Kipod website, I'm on their school finder map. If they're on Odyssey because they have a Tefa voucher and they're looking for a private school, they can find me in Odyssey. I'm in a credited private school in Texas, and so anywhere where they would list a credited private school, I'm probably there. So yeah, I have a website, AMAustin.org.

32:58And so all the information is there for anybody who wants to connect. Perfect, yes, again that is AMAustin.org. And Millie Perez best wishes on your first academic year, running this school, look forward to touching base again in the future. And thank you so much for being on the deliberative podcast. Thank you for having me, Carrie, I really appreciate it. Thank you for listening to the deliberative podcast. If you liked this episode, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and rate and review us while you're there. And visit us at the Education Entrepreneurship Lab at feed at edentrepreneur.org.