profile
Pied Piper
for preschoolers
Wayne’s Jolie Della Valle shares fun life lessons through words and music
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER
L
ifelong Wayne resident Jolie Della Valle, 33, was working at
a children’s clothing company when her boss took her aside.
The Fashion Institute of Technology graduate was being a
little too entrepreneurial, it seemed, running an after-work
side business producing and selling kids’ pants. But Della
Valle didn’t find fulfillment in her day job; she found it
making her Ants in the Pants line, with their ant-patterned fabric inside.
“I didn’t want to be told that I couldn’t be creative on my own time,”
she says. So she quit, and never looked back.
Della Valle trusted her instincts, and decided that she wanted to teach
children that they should believe in themselves, too. To do that, she had
to learn a few things herself first — how to self-publish a book, play a
series of instruments, and build a business model that would, over the
next five years, bring her before 250-300 audiences of kids ages 2 to 6
annually. During her premier performance, she says, “I thought, ‘This
is what I want to do!’” We asked her how she engages her young
listeners, especially at a time when they can’t gather in public.
What did you do after
you left your job?
I wrote a children’s book, with illustrations
by Leigh Ann Mooney, called Georgie and the
Ants in the Pants. In it, I told kids to believe
in themselves. I had a book-signing at High
SocieTea in Wayne, where I worked through-
out college, and met a teacher from Giggle
and Grow, a local daycare center. She passed
my information to the school’s director, who
contacted me. After that, I decided to turn
the reading into an entertaining performance
for the children. I needed to do something to
keep their attention, so I wrote a few songs
for a 30-minute performance.
Had you sung in public before?
No. I also watched YouTube videos to
learn how to play simple chords on a uku-
lele; before I had a child (her son, Georgie,
is 3) I had more time on my hands. The kids
engaged with me on that first author visit.
(She also picked up the guitar and harmonica.)
How did you go from one
school performance to
several hundred per year?
I would call preschools, daycare centers
and some elementary schools and say “My
name is Jolie, I wrote a book and have a
program about kids believing in themselves.”
A lot of people on the other end of the
phone would say no, but a lot would say yes.
Once I got into a few schools, it snowballed.
I’ve visited more than 200 schools; (before
the coronavirus) I’d do two or three shows
during the day.
I’ve also performed at birthday parties and
businesses that bring in families and kids, such
as the Woodland Indoor Playground in Cedar
Grove, Tay + Te Imaginative Play in Northvale
and Kid and Caboodle Play in Morristown.
I appeared at the Learning Express in
Morristown every month. I’d drive up to
an hour; I loved the car ride.
What is your business model?
Did you charge a fee?
I charged a fee of up to $270 for two
separate shows, depending on whether I just
performed music, or it was an author program
where I presented a book and music. If it
was the latter, I brought books with me — I
order 1500 printed at a time — and sold some,
or parents ordered the book from my website
and I signed it for their child. In schools,
the PTO or PTA usually paid me from their
budget. If I was performing at daycare cen-
ters and preschools, I usually charged $200.
At birthday parties and weekend activities,
I charged more than that.
WAYNE MAGAZINE MAY 2020
13