Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Kuchta.
Hi Sarah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started Nittany Nannies in January 2024 because I hit a wall a lot of parents here know all too well — I couldn’t find childcare I actually trusted. As a local mom, I was stuck choosing between Facebook groups with zero accountability and national platforms that leave all the vetting work to you. I didn’t want that for my own family, and I figured I wasn’t the only one struggling with it.
So I built the thing I wished existed: a nanny and sitter agency where every single caregiver is personally interviewed, reference checked, background cleared, and CPR certified by me before they ever meet a family. No subscription platform, no DIY vetting, no guessing. Just real, local people you can trust with your kids.
We started small, but State College needed this. Since then we’ve grown to about 60 sitters and 350+ families served, built out Bronze, Silver, and Gold membership options plus pay-per-sit and full nanny placement, and even expanded into Chester County. We were voted Silver for Best New Business in 2024 and have been featured in State College Magazine and on WTAJ.
At the end of the day, this is still very much a mom-run, community-rooted business. I’m not a faceless platform — I’m your neighbor, and I built this because I needed it too.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all, and I think that’s true for most small businesses, especially in a college town. A few of the big ones:
The Penn State turnover cycle. A huge chunk of my sitter pool is Penn State students, which is amazing for availability during the school year, but every spring I lose a wave of my best, most experienced sitters to graduation. It means I’m constantly recruiting and re-vetting, not just once, but as an ongoing cycle baked into the calendar every single year.
Building trust from zero. When you’re a brand-new local agency going up against something like Care.com, which already has name recognition, or free Facebook groups, you have to work twice as hard to convince families that paying for real vetting is worth it. A lot of early conversations were me explaining, sitter by sitter, family by family, why background checks and CPR certification and personal interviews actually matter.
Getting the pricing and structure right. Figuring out how to fairly price memberships versus pay-per-sit versus nanny placement took real trial and error. I wanted something that made sense for families at very different stages, a family booking a date-night sitter once a month has very different needs than a family looking for a full-time nanny, and building service tiers that actually reflected that (without over- or under-charging anyone) took time to dial in.
Wearing every hat. For a long time it was just me: recruiting sitters, vetting them, matching families, handling billing, doing the marketing. Bringing on help like Kayla for communications was a huge turning point, but getting to the point where I could actually hand pieces of the business off was its own struggle.
None of it has been effortless, but every one of those growing pains is part of why the business works the way it does now.
We’ve been impressed with Nittany Nannies, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
About Nittany Nannies
Nittany Nannies is a locally owned and operated childcare agency serving State College and the greater Happy Valley area, with a newer presence in Chester County too. We connect families with carefully vetted, trustworthy caregivers, whether that’s a one-off date night sitter, a recurring babysitter, or a full-time nanny.
What we do:
We offer a full range of childcare solutions built around how families actually live:
Babysitting memberships (Bronze, Silver, Gold) for families who need regular, reliable care
Pay-per-sit bookings for families who just need occasional help
Nanny placement for families looking for full-time or part-time in-home care
Event and specialty sitting, overnight and out-of-town care, pet sitting, and house manager services
What we specialize in / what we’re known for:
Personal, hands-on vetting. Every single sitter and nanny in our network goes through a real interview with me, reference checks, background clearances, and CPR certification before they ever meet a family. I’m not running an algorithm or a self-serve marketplace, I personally know every caregiver I place.
What sets us apart:
We’re hyper-local. We’re not a national platform trying to serve every zip code; we know Happy Valley and Centre County specifically, and our sitter pool reflects this community: Penn State students, local teachers, grandmothers, and trusted neighbors.
No subscription traps or algorithm matching. Families work directly with a real person (me!) who takes the time to understand their specific needs and match them with the right caregiver, not just the next available one.
Full-service, not single-service. Between memberships, pay-per-sit, nanny placement, and specialty care like pet sitting and event sitting, we can support a family through very different childcare seasons of life, not just one narrow use case.
What I’m most proud of:
That this is still a genuinely local, community-rooted business. We were voted Silver for Best New Business in 2024, we’ve been featured in State College Magazine and on WTAJ, and we’ve grown to 60 sitters and 350+ families almost entirely through word of mouth. That kind of trust isn’t bought, it’s earned one family and one placement at a time.
What I want people to know:
This business exists because I couldn’t find childcare I trusted when I needed it, so I built the thing I wished had existed. Every decision we make, from how we vet sitters to how we price our services, comes back to one question: would I trust this person or this process with my own kids? If the answer’s yes, that’s what we offer families.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I like best:
Honestly, it’s the sense of community. State College has this small-town feel where people actually look out for each other, but it’s paired with the energy of a college town, so there’s always something going on. As a mom running a childcare business here, I see it firsthand: families who genuinely want to build a “village” around raising their kids, and neighbors who are willing to be part of that. There’s also something special about the mix of people, Penn State students, longtime locals, young families, retirees, that makes our sitter pool so rich. A grandmother, a college student, and a former teacher can all be part of the same caregiving network here, and that variety is part of what makes this town work so well for families.
What I like least:
Probably the seasonal rhythm tied to Penn State. When students are out for the summer or graduate in the spring, it creates real gaps, whether that’s in childcare availability, local business traffic, or just the overall feel of downtown. It’s the tradeoff that comes with being a college town: incredible energy for nine months, then a very different pace the rest of the year. It’s something I’ve had to build my whole recruiting and staffing strategy around.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nittanynannies.com
- Instagram: @nittanynannies
