Le Village Featured on CBS Chicago!

We were honored to welcome CBS Chicago into our newest Le Village location in Lakeview for a special behind-the-scenes segment on what we’re building for working parents.

In just a few short minutes, they captured the essence of who we are: a space created by parents, for parents—where community, flexibility, and support live under one roof.

From our beautiful classrooms and flexible childcare model to our open coworking areas and vibrant parent community, this piece offers a real look at what makes Le Village different—and why it’s catching on in neighborhoods across the Midwest.

🎥 Watch the full segment below:

📄 Prefer to read? Scroll down for the full transcript.

About Le Village

Le Village is more than a place to work—it’s a new model of support for modern parenthood. Our spaces offer part-time, on-site childcare in the same building as our collaborative coworking space, allowing parents to get work done, build community, and still feel close to their little ones.

We currently operate in:

📍 Irving Park (our flagship)

📍 Lakeview (as seen in the segment)

📍 Des Plaines

📍 Milwaukee

📍 Route 66 near the Brookfield Zoo

And we’re not done yet. If you're a parent ready to build your own Village, we're now franchising—and we’d love to connect.

Want to Learn More?

• Book a Tour at your local Le Village

• Explore Franchising opportunities with us

• Read what this moment meant to our founder → Coming Soon!

Thanks for being part of the Village. ❤️

Full Transcript

Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

"Le Village's Newest Location in Uptown"

Segment 1 – Live with Jackie and Daniella (Opening)

Anchor: You may be able to relate to this—balancing work, childcare, and then everything in between can be a bit of a challenge.

Yes, but for today's Jump Start, we're checking out a Chicago-based company run by moms that gives parents the chance to co-work while providing childcare for their little ones.

Our Jackie Kostek joins us now from the newest location of Le Village in Uptown with more details. Hey Jackie, how's it going out there?

Jackie: Ladies, good morning to you! We're just getting started here—and so is this location. They opened their doors just four days before the Fourth of July.

I'm here with Daniella Cornue, who started Le Village about six years ago in Irving Park. Now they have six locations.

Jackie: Daniella, good morning to you.

Daniella: Good morning. Thank you for joining us.

Jackie: Well, thank you so much. I feel like this is probably as quiet as it ever is in Le Village. But tell me a little bit about the model and how it works so well for families.

Daniella: Absolutely. So Le Village is something that's a little bit unique. We are a co-working space for parents and we have onsite childcare that runs Monday through Friday, but we also are a community space for those parents.

It's really built around families coming together, and we have a curriculum built around our babies and toddlers that are on site.

Jackie: Okay, so right now you're looking at the co-working space. This is where the moms and dads—or whoever is bringing the child—can set up shop and do their work.

And as you walk throughout the building, that's where you find the more sort of daycare setup of it, right?

Daniella: That's absolutely correct.

Jackie: And then you also have some more secluded offices over here in case somebody needs to take a meeting and they need a little more privacy.

Daniella: Yes. Everybody's doing different jobs, right? Some people prefer to work in a more open-ended space, and some people really need that privacy to get things done.

Jackie: How did you come up with this idea six years ago?

Daniella: Well, I think I came up with it the way a lot of moms do—I had a problem and I needed to solve it. I went back to work and was struggling to find balance between my work and home life. I thought, “There’s got to be something better where I can be present with my daughter and go to work.”

So I created it.

Jackie: And now there are six locations—two here in the city and four in the suburbs. And we’ve got two of the moms who are leaders of the villages here as well! Annie runs this location, and Abbey runs the Lyons location, which is opening in a couple of weeks.

You’re working on something called “Ticket to Coffee.” How does that work?

Daniella: So this works with our childcare model—but it also works at home. If you spend just five minutes prepping whatever activity you want to work on for the day, you’re going to buy yourself a “ticket to coffee.”

Jackie: Okay, I’m going to buy myself a ticket to coffee this morning. Daniella, thank you so much. This is the brand-new Le Village location—right between Lakeview and Uptown. They’ve got multiple membership models so families can get childcare and also work alongside their kids. 

Ladies, back to you.

Segment 2 – Classroom Walkthrough with Daniella

Jackie: This location just opened up a couple of weeks ago. It’s a really unique model, meant to serve families in all sorts of ways—and to help them not feel so isolated in those early parenting years.

I’m here with Daniella Cornue, who started this all. Good morning to you.

Daniella: Good morning.

Jackie: So Le Village now has six locations. What was your idea behind creating it?

Daniella: I was really looking for a place that would bridge the work-life balance gap. I wanted to continue my career, I needed a place to work, but I also wanted to be with my daughter. That’s why I created Le Village.

Jackie: A lot of childcare options aren’t very flexible. They’re often full-day, full-week, and expensive. How is your model different?

Daniella: We really try to build around what parents need. You can do three-day half-days, or be here Unlimited – Monday through Friday. We also break for lunch every single day—so you get that time with your little one, no matter your schedule.

Jackie: And this isn’t just babysitting—it’s purposeful childcare.

Daniella: That’s right. We have three classrooms. We have a baby’s room, we have a toddlers room, and we have a threes room. And within those classrooms there's four pillars of play. So we have sensory work, artwork. We also have what we call big body, which is gross motor work. And we have what we call little hands, which is fine motor work.

Jackie: Big body, little hands is just a great way of saying that. I love that. This is the explorer's room. What are they working on right now,  Daniella?

Daniella: Well, right now we've got a couple! We've got sensory work and we've got artwork. Theo is painting the shells. You can see a couple of examples there, and we try to leave it open and free, right? Mia is playing with Play-Doh and shells, which is a great fine motor tool as well. So she's squishing and strengthening her hands.

We try to make it, again, very purposeful but open-ended.

Jackie: Parents have their own open workspace too, but also private offices and even walking treads, right?

Daniella: Yes, it’s all about giving parents options. Hey, you wanna workout while you work? Sure! I always say: Can you have it all? We don’t know—but you can do it all here.

Jackie:

Yes, you can do it all here. And you've got all the flexible models and flexible pricing as well.

Daniella, thank you so much for your time this morning.

Again, six locations of Le Village. You're looking at Jojo right now, who's so sweet. Jojo, can you—yeah. Jojo—she actually gave me a high five earlier. Let's see if you can do it again. High five again? No? No. She might be the first person to reject a high five live on air, but that's okay. It’s all right. All right. Back to you.

Anchor: Jojo knows what she wants.

Co-Anchor: Jojo knows.

Anchor: All right, Jackie, thank you.

Segment 3 – Jackie with Le Village Leadership Team

Jackie: I want to introduce everyone we have here this morning.

Annie launched this Lakeview location. Daniella founded Le Village (and owns 2 Locations in Irving Park). Liz owns the Des Plaines location. Lilly runs Irving Park. Julia runs the Pre-K at Irving Park. Abby runs the soon-to-open Lyons location.

Jackie (to Daniella): What was going on in your life six or seven years ago that made you start this?

Daniella: really found that motherhood can be really isolating and really lonely. One in seven women have postpartum depression. 50% of them go undiagnosed. And I felt like we needed something that gave us back our community—gave us back our village. I found myself screaming, “Where is my village, and how do I find it?” And so when I couldn’t find it, I created it.

Jackie: What does it mean to see this team standing around you?

Daniella: I—I can’t say enough about the ladies that are standing around me right now.

I’m gonna get a little emotional. I’m gonna try not to—because it’s just really special that we have this as a support system. We have each other. And so as much as the business is an amazing part of this, just having the camaraderie of doing this together is really special.

Jackie:

Absolutely. Well, congratulations for starting it, and for also building this community that everyone seems to love being a part of.

And also—it is women all running these spaces, but it’s not just women involved. A lot of the dads are bringing their kids and enjoying the co-working options as well.

Jackie (to Annie): And—like I said—you just started this Lakeview location. Good morning to you.

Annie: Good morning. Thanks for being here.

Jackie: Well, thank you so much for having us.Talk about your vision just for this space, and what it’s  added to your life in just the months since you started it.

Annie: Yeah, I’m really excited—as Daniella mentioned—for the community aspect.

You know, I’m a new mom myself, and a lot of my friends have kids, but they’re older. So I want to get to know other local moms in the neighborhood. And we really see this place becoming a community spot—hopefully partnering with other local mom-owned businesses that do music and dance lessons. We want to have networking events for parents, happy hours, and really just create that community.

So again—you have a village to reach out to at three in the morning if you’re worried about something and you don’t want to, you know, text your mom or your pediatrician. You know, it’s nice to have others that are going through the same thing at the same time as you.

Jackie: Annie, thank you so much for your time this morning. Really appreciate it.

This is Le Village—again, six locations, two here in the city and then four in the suburbs.

Jojo—let’s give Jojo one last opportunity to—see Jojo? Okay, let’s do it.

Jackie (to Jojo): Yeah! Jojo! One last time! Yeah… no. No. You know what—they’ve got healthy boundaries set up here at Le Village, which is a good thing, you guys.

Back to you.

Anchor: Jojo knows what she wants.

Anchor 2: Jojo knows.

Anchor: All right, Jackie, thank you.

Segment 4 – Walkthrough with Annie

Jackie: Le Village is opening in about 15 minutes, so it’s getting busier.

I’m here with Annie, who owns this Lakeview/Uptown location. Good morning!

Annie: Good morning.

Jackie: And this is your daughter, Audrey. How old is she?

Annie: She’ll be seven months next week.

Jackie:Oh my gosh. Okay! What made you want to actually run and manage this village?

Annie:Honestly, when I found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her—like, before she was even here.

I’ve always loved my career, but I knew that I wanted to spend more time with her.

Jackie: Yeah.

Annie: So when I found Le Village, it felt like the perfect fit. And we loved it so much that we decided to open one ourselves.

Jackie: Absolutely.

You’re going to tell me a little bit about how the model works, but let’s actually, um, pass Audrey off to the daycare—the childcare model.

This is really “play with purpose,” is sort of what they say at Le Village, because they’ve got a bunch of teachers who are here that kind of take the babies and toddlers through some educational activities and some early childhood development, I would say.

But how does it work for parents like you who come in—and they can also work, but they can have great childcare at the same time?

Annie: Yeah. So every morning, you know, when they arrive—if you’ve got an infant like I do—you drop them off in the classroom, you put their schedule up on the board, you know: feeding, nap times, things like that. If you’ve got a toddler, of course, they’re a little more self-sufficient. And then really, the kids get into activities right away. So we do art. We do sensory activities. We do—we like to call “big body,” which is gross motor. And we do “little hands,” fine motor.

As you said, we want them to have fun and be playing, but it’s also all about the development.

Jackie: Yes, absolutely.

And then here is where the parents can come and co-work, right?

Annie: Yeah. So parents can, just kind of a drop—you know, drop wherever they want to. Sit at a comfy chair, at a table, whatever works for them.

We’ve got some phone booths coming in a couple of months. But in the meantime, if people need to take a private call or have a, you know, a video meeting or anything that they want a little privacy for, they can pop into one of our private offices on this side.

Jackie: Yeah. I was going to say—we wanted to show off some of the private offices too, because I imagine that a lot of folks who do work from home, that there are some calls that you want to take in a little bit more of a private space.

So this is actually considered the wellness room, right? Where they can do the walking treadmill too.

Annie: Exactly. So this is available for anyone at any time.Maybe they want to take a walking meeting. Honestly, maybe they want to catch a little nap in the middle of the day. When was the last time, you know, you had a chance to do that, right? So they can come and pop in the wellness room and take a little break.

Jackie: And last thing—what I love is that you guys have an hour in the middle of the day, which is the lunch hour.

That’s the hour where the teachers head out to take their lunch break, and the parents can rejoin their child and have a little lunch with their child, which I think is a special opportunity.

Annie: Yeah, that’s really core to the model, is that you want to spend time with your kid. That’s why you come here.

So having that break in the middle of the day—to go on a walk, to play outside, to, you know, read a book with your kid and eat lunch—it’s a nice break in the middle of the day.

And also it helps protect that work-life balance. You know, telling people you’re not available for meetings—you really need that protected time—is actually really powerful.

Jackie: Yeah. Annie, thank you so much for your time this morning. Really appreciate it.

This is Le Village. They have six locations—both in the city of Chicago and outside of Chicago in the western suburbs.

Jackie (to studio): Audrina, back to you.

Anchor: All right, Jackie, thank you so much for bringing us the concept.