Ep. 39: Mike Clarke, Co-Founder, Storyvoice and Senior Director of New Media at Scholastic

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Ep. 38: Mike Clarke, Co-Founder, Storyvoice and Senior Director of New Media at Scholastic

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Ep. 38: Mike Clarke, Co-Founder, Storyvoice and Senior Director of New Media at Scholastic

Reading is FUNdamental

Eric Tash

and

Mike Clarke

Jan 02, 2024

Transcript

Hello Everyone -

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2024!

In this episode of Worthy for Thirty, we delve into the inspiring journey of Mike Clarke, co-founder of StoryVoice, a platform that connects children from all over the world for live, interactive storytime sessions. Mike shares his story of leaving a tech career in New York City to work on the frontlines of the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon. It was there that he met his co-founders and witnessed firsthand the challenges children faced in accessing education and language resources. This experience sparked the idea for Storyvoice, a platform that leverages technology to bridge the gap and foster a love of reading in children everywhere.

Mike Clarke's journey to co-founding StoryVoice:

2016: Moved to Lebanon to work with refugees and leverage technology for their benefit.
2016: Organized a hackathon for refugee challenges, and met future co-founders Ahmad and Leen.
2016-2019: Worked with UN agencies and embassies to develop tech solutions for refugee issues.
2018-2019: Witnessed the challenges faced by Syrian refugee children in Lebanese schools due to language barriers.
2019: Developed the Kindi app, a platform for children to request on-demand reading buddies.

The pivot to StoryVoice:

Late 2019: Realized the limitations of Kindi and decided to pivot to a one-to-many model.
Barcelona retreat: Conceptualized StoryVoice as a centralized platform for global storytime.
Focus: Creating a free, safe, and exciting space for children worldwide to enjoy reading together.

Current status:

StoryVoice is now a thriving platform hosting weekly live read-aloud shows with authors, educators, and celebrities.
It has reached over 100,000 classrooms and families across 35 countries.
In late 2022, StoryVoice was acquired by Scholastic, a leading children's book publisher and education company.

Worthy for Thirty

Ep. 38: Mike Clarke, Co-Founder, Storyvoice and Senior Director of New Media at Scholastic

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