We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mary Cantwell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mary, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Finding my purpose was certainly a bit of a journey and something I was only able to do after taking a huge risk and making a major life decision. I’d been the Director at the New York City campus of a London-based school for close to two decades. It was a job I enjoyed, was hugely successful at and a position, I felt, represented my entire identity. I often wondered, “who was I, if I wasn’t the Director of this school”? By 2018, in the moments when I was radically honest with myself, I realized that I wasn’t growing professionally or personally. I was stuck and addicted to the mundane routine of a paycheck every two weeks, a very generous holiday schedule and pretty much knowing what to expect every single day. The pandemic in many ways helped empower me to resign in the summer of 2020, give up that certainty of a guaranteed paycheck and open Enrichednyc with my business partner, Brooke Ooten. Everyday we help children across America, many from underserved communities, with literacy training that will change the trajectory of their lives. We support teachers and provide them with the tools they need to teach children how to read and truly believe the work we do is changing the country for the better. I now know this is my purpose and it feels wonderful to embody it.
Mary
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m the Co-Founder of Enrichednyc, a virtual and in-person literacy enrichment company. In tandem with my wonderful business partner, Brooke Ooten, we support children, many from underserved communities, who really never learned to read proficiently for a variety of reasons. We are passionate about the sequential, phonics based program we created and want to teach many educators how to implement it, so that children all over America, from every community, have at least one strong, caring, loving teacher, who has been empowered to teach them how to read. We have also just submitted a bid application to the Portland Public Schools, who after reviewing decreasing reading scores for decades, realized there must be a paradigm shift. To that end, PPS are seeking staff developers from all over the country to help train administrators teachers, on how to teach the science of reading. This type of instruction is our area of expertise and we are confident that we can help create the transformational leadership change the district is seeking.
More recently, a passion project idea has come up through a member of our Faith Based Literacy Initiative. A pilot is in the works, but the overall goal of the program is to support soldiers coming home from battle, who are motivated to teach our virtual phonics program from the comfort of their home. These soldiers, trained by us, would work with underserved children who desperate for this type of instruction and connection. We are so excited about our future!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
To be quite honest, in my experience, the recipe for success includes some very basic ingredients- at least it did for me. First and foremost, I strived to be the hardest worker in the room. I knew that I might not be the most accomplished or the smartest, but I vowed to not let anyone outwork me. I know the trend today is to work smarter, not harder and I’ve gotten better with that, however, if you want to be successful you must consistently work hard at it. This is a quality that touches every part of my life- how you do one thing is how you do everything! Second, transparency is the key to successful relationships in business and in life. Some messages are very difficult to deliver, we are human beings, and nobody enjoys being in an uncomfortable position. My goal is always transparency sprinkled with kindness-it’s not what you say sometimes, but how you say it. Finally, having faith in myself and in the universe has sustained me through many tough times throughout my life and career. I firmly believe that in the end, everything works out and if it hasn’t, then it’s not over yet.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
My business partner, Brooke Ooten, and I are constantly seeking incredible educators who are trained in the science of reading. There is such a desperate need all across the country for passionate professionals who believe in utilizing a multi-sensory, phonics-based approach to teaching children how to read. Our customized 1:1 virtual model can be quite successful for teaching children as young as 3 how to read and develop their phonological awareness, which is the building block for fluency. We are interested in talking with any professionals who have a desire to help us end the crisis of illiteracy that currently plagues our country.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.enrichednyc.com
- Instagram: @enrichednyc
- Facebook: @enrichednyc
- Linkedin: Enrichednyc
Image Credits
Photos credits Daphne Youree
