Jessica Dehn Founder & Director

No mountain is too high for Ms. Jessica. She is a hands-on founder and innovator in early learning. She loves finding ways to better serve her community by helping families balance fulfilling lives and parenthood with the help of caring community partners.

Explore is Jessica’s third business model in the educational space and she is thrilled to see another dream become reality.

• Founder of Dino Drop-In and Dino on the GO!
• Over a decade of early childhood education
• Masters in Public Administration
• Former Corporate Professional Career
• Jessica is the mom to three fabulous boys—Keaton, Orion & Ashton.

Jessica worked as a paraprofessional and lead teacher in early childhood education for over a decade while living in Minnesota. She moved on to the corporate world and working with startups when she moved to Montana and discovered her passion for creating companies that positively affect their communities. When she and her husband Jeff had their first son, Keaton, she continued to travel for work with baby in tow. Keaton went to staff meetings, food shows, and even high profile meetings with exporters. Jessica was torn. She wanted to spend as much time as possible with her son but also had a passion for building companies. The two could coexist most of the time but having an infant made portions of the day more challenging than necessary. After her second son, Orion, was born two years later it was clear that working with two little ones and no viable daycare wasn’t an option. She spent some months consulting with startups but wanted to take another deep dive into the entrepreneurial life.

Dino Drop-In was her first opportunity to pour her passion into a business and be with her little boys, seamlessly. The Dino Drop-In model was so well received locally and nationally it won 2nd in the nation for SBA’s InnovateHER contest in 2017. This only further fuled Jessica’s expansion efforts and Dino Drop-In is now licencing and franchising with owners across the US.

Dino on the GO! brings the Dino Drop-In model into remote locations for temporary childcare needs and into homes.

Finally, Explore is the culmination of years of research and patience. The right space is critical for any venture but the Montessori approach puts even higher emphasis on curated spaces. When the building across the street from Dino Drop-In suddenly became available in June 2020, Jessica simultaneously called the realtor, placed an ad for head of school, and honed her business model to enable a September 2020 opening to be possible.