You may know Janet Ivey from her public television series Janet’s Planet, but before she was teaching kids about science, she got her start in 1992 leading the Opryland Kids Club.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — You may know Janet Ivey from her public television series Janet’s Planet, but before she was teaching kids about science, she got her start in 1992 leading the Opryland Kids Club.
“Here I am, 25 years old, and what do I know? I don’t have kids of my own at that time, and all of a sudden I’m sort of managing and performing alongside these kids,” Ivey said. “We were friends, I was mentor, I was coach, and then we would get out and perform four shows a day.”
Those kids became like family to Ivey; they spent six days a week performing together, and on her days off, Ivey would take the kids on road trips or put on special events with their families.
“We did everything with the kids. Many were home-schooled, so we had a prom one summer. We always did Christmas in July,” Ivey said. “It was such a magical, sweet, innocent time, and the fact that I got to love these kids as my own.”
Decades later, the kids are all grown up but Ivey is still a part of their lives and cheering on their successes.
“Some of those kids have danced all over the world. There’s Natalie Stovall, who’s the host of the Grand Ole Opry and part of Runaway June. There’s Rachel Smith, who’s on Entertainment Tonight. These other beautiful kids are now amazing parents and doing great things. I am God Mommy to many of their children. So it really is a family, and I think it’s hard to describe or explain it.”
As Opryland was closing in 1997, Ivey knew she wanted to keep working with kids and the science entertainment world lacked female presence, so she pitched her idea for Janet’s Planet to Nashville Public Television. With a lot of negotiating and a little Southern charm, they first agreed to interstitials or short shows.
“I did my first three interstitials, all about the science of the Parthenon. And then crazy, crazy that we won our first regional Emmy,” Ivey said.
The show launched into great success with national distribution, a live tour, Astronaut Academy summer camps, and many more awards and honors along the way.
Even with all her accolades, Ivey left a piece of her heart where Opryland once stood, which is now Opry Mills Mall. She said she knows so many longtime Nashville residents and visitors of the park, feel the same way.
“‘For those of us who remember the log ride or the rock and roller coaster and all the great shows, even as visitors, we’re like, oh, I so wish that my own grandkids could experience that. I look back and think it’s like this beautifully bubble-wrapped time capsule of some of the sweetest, best days of my life,” Ivey said.