National literacy advocates L to R: Diane Dragan; Ameer Baraka; Harvey Hubbell; Missy Purcell and Sherri Marie Lucas at the 2025 International Dyslexia Association national conference in Atlanta, GA.
About my journey:
I didn’t start my career thinking I would become a literacy advocate.
I started as an educator who wanted my students to succeed—and realized that many of them weren’t being given the tools they needed to learn to read.
After years in the classroom, I began digging deeper into how reading actually works. That journey led me to the Science of Reading and structured literacy—frameworks that finally explained what I had been seeing all along.
From there, my work expanded:
Teaching in early elementary classrooms
Launching a tutoring business
Training educators across the country
Today, my work sits at the intersection of:
Student support
Educator training
Literacy advocacy
Because solving this problem requires all three.
I believe:
Every child can learn to read with the right instruction
Educators deserve better training and support
Systems must change—not just students
Why This Work Matters
Too many students—especially students of color—have not received the reading instruction they deserve.
This isn’t about effort. It’s about access to the right methods.
I believe real change happens when:
Educators are deeply trained in structured literacy
Schools commit to evidence-based instruction
Communities invest in early, effective intervention
When we get this right, we change outcomes for life.
Experience & Credibility
15+ years in education (paraprofessional, teacher, and literacy advocate)
Former National Professional Learning Facilitator with Lexia
LETRS-trained and certified in structured literacy
Founder of Designed to Teach Tutoring Services
Contact me:
Please reach out to me anytime via the contact form or directly at designed2teach2019@gmail.com.