Ann Khoshbin, owner of Rose Garden Day Nursery in Uplands, is to be awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to education.
She set up her business after being unable to find suitable childcare for her own children.
She said: "It's lovely, I'm pleased and humbled really.
She said of receiving the letter informing her of the honour: "It was such a surprise, I just cried, I couldn't believe it.
"I don't do the work to have a medal. I do it because I absolutely love it. It's a family business."
Mrs Khoshbin also provides work placements for college students and gives talks to students.
Unlike other honours, the BEM is not awarded by the Queen or Prince of Wales but by Lord-Lieutenants, who are the representatives of the Crown for each county in the UK.
Other recipients of BEMs from south-west Wales are:
Also recognised in the birthday honours list is Swansea councillor Peter Black who will be appointed CBE for services to politics and public life in Wales.
Mr Black was a Liberal Democrat AM between 1999 and 2016 and has represented the Cwmbwrla ward as a councillor since 1984.
British honours are awarded on merit, for exceptional achievement or service.
All of the recipients will be invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party to celebrate their achievements.

Soldiers from the island, as well as Kingussie and Beauly in the Highlands, lost their lives at Festubert in France in 1915.
Portree on Skye lost 10 men in a single night. In total, more than 20,000 men died over 10 days of fighting.
Three days of events will start on Friday and will include talks by historians and poetry readings.
Festubert's impact on the Highlands and Islands was recalled in BBC Two Scotland documentary, The Machine Gun and Skye's Band of Brothers, last year.
This week's commemorations will be held in Portree.
Many of the men from Skye, Kingussie and Beauly who died at Festubert had played shinty, a fact that will be recalled in some of the events.
A set of bagpipes recovered from the battlefield's trenches will be used to play the tune The Beauly Shinty Club. The music was composed by one of two brothers who died in the conflict.
Shinty commentator and historian Hugh Dan MacLennan will be among those taking part in the commemorations.
He said: "Festubert is our focus because it was one of the first great killing battles, which saw death on an industrial scale.
"Not only that, but its impact on Highland communities is beyond belief."
The owner of a Swansea nursery has said she is "pleased and humbled" to be recognised in the Queen's birthday honours list.
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One of the bloodiest battles of World War One will be commemorated in events to be held on Skye later this week.