Featured in Voyage Dallas: Meet Our Executive Director

We're thrilled to share that Northeast Texas Children's Museum — and our own Executive Director, Rachel Bounds — was recently featured in Voyage Dallas Magazine!

In the interview, Rachel talks candidly about her path here: twenty years in public education as a teacher, counselor, principal, and administrator, and the moment she realized her real energy was for how children learn, not the systems around that learning. She also shares the museum's own story, from a Commerce pastor's visit to an Oklahoma children's museum in 1994, through eight years of community-building, to the 26,500-square-foot home we occupy today.

The conversation covers some of the hardest years, too: the financial struggles, the four moves before we found a permanent home, and the slow work of convincing a community that a children's museum was worth investing in. And it ends with the advice Rachel would give anyone starting something new — build community support before you need it, and trust that your prior experience is an asset, not a detour.

It's a good look behind the scenes at who we are and why we do this work. Read the full interview below.

Full Interview

Rachel Bounds, Executive Director since 2026