About Us

Meet the Owner

Mrs. Martha Williams

My name is Martha Williams, and I am the owner of Tender Years Childcare Development Center. I was born and raised in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and came to this beautiful country of the United States in 1989.

Children are my life, and my lifelong dream ever since I was a young woman was to own a childcare center! I worked for Walgreens as a store manager for 25 years, and in 2011, I took a leap of faith and quit my retail management career and decided to pursue my true dream of owning a childcare center. My dream came true in 2012 when I purchased my first childcare center Tender Years Childcare Development Center, and then with the blessings of Christ, I purchased my second in 2014 Fundamentals of Mandeville.

I have a deep passion for being a difference in a child’s life and being able to give parents the opportunity to have affordable childcare. My goal is to provide a safe, educational, and loving environment for your child and for you to feel that your child is in great hands.

I am married to Earl Williams and have been happily married for 20 years. We are proud parents to 6 children and 5 dogs. We have lived on the Northshore since 2005, fun fact: we moved a week before Hurricane Katrina! We are die-hard New Orleans Saints and LSU Tiger Fans! Who Dat and Geaux Tigers! We love spending our spare time with our children and dogs.

Thank you for learning about me and we hope to see you soon!

Meet the Director

Mrs. Gena

My name is Gena Sternberger, I am the Director at Fundamentals Early Learning Center of Mandeville. I have been in childcare for the last 19 years, and I started off as a Lead Teacher at Tender Years Child Development Center working with age groups 1-3 years.

I was a Lead Teacher at Tender Years until Mrs. Martha bought Fundamentals Early Learning Center in 2014 and moved me here to become the Director of Fundamentals of Mandeville! It was quite a big change for me, but thankfully Mrs. Martha had faith in my transition, and it all worked out!

I have my associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Northshore Technical Community College and have a Child Development Associate (CDA) Certification along with a Paraprofessional Certification.

I have been married to my wonderful husband Dustin for 25 years! (We still love driving each other crazy even after 25 years) I have a daughter named Grace who is in nursing school and a granddaughter named Finley Marie! In my spare time, I like to read, spend time with my family, remodel our home, or go fishing.

Thank you for learning about me and hope to see you join our Fundamentals family!