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

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. Links: Follow Storyvoice on Instagram Follow Scholastic on Instagram | Linkedin Follow Mike on Instagram | Connect with Mike on Linkedin Full conversation on YouTube 👇 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit worthyforthirty.substack.com