August 11, 2025 • 43 mins
Author, Journalist, Literacy Advocate, and Mompreneur, Maya Payne Smart is on a mission to help as many children as possible achieve reading literacy and talk. Her book, “Reading for Our Lives” is an action plan that can be implemented in children as early as birth. Maya shares her journey into the business of books, her struggles and unconventional wins with social media, and her passion for helping parents address America’s growing literacy problem.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, is your girl, Nancy read? And this is season
(00:02):
four of Mompreneurs, wherein we celebrate beautiful black entrepreneurs who
are also amazing moms. Now every week I'm chatting with
my guests about how they're killing it simultaneously as a
business mogul and a mom, listening to their aspiring journeys
and incredible advice. Now, mama's of littles, listen up, because
my next guest is here to get your baby college
(00:23):
bound from before they can even speak. Maya pain Smart
is an incredible woman that I have known for over
half my life, and she is a book lover. She
is a literacy advocate, and she is the author of
Reading for Our Lives, a literacy action Plan from Birth
to six and now it is out in paperback, which
is very exciting, and it is a must read for
(00:46):
parents and caregivers if they have anyone in their life
that they care about making the difference for their future. Maya,
I am so glad to have you here with us.
You are absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Thank you so much for having me, Nancy, I'm excited
to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay, so before we get into the business side of things,
talking about your book, your literacy advocacy and more. Talk
to us about what's going on in your household. Let's
get a little personal. Who puts the mom in your mompreneur.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So, I'm the daughter of one fabulous thirteen year old
Zora who's named after the author Zora Neil Hurston, and
she has just transformed my life in so many wonderful ways.
So it's an honor to be her mom and to
drive her all around creation for her various sports and activities. Also,
my husband, Shaka, who's a basketball coach at Marquette University,
(01:38):
and my mom, we're all very privileged and blessed to
have my mom, Margaret Payne in the house with us
as well. So we have a four person household. My
mom is an only child, I'm an only child, and
my daughter is an only child, so we have a special.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Three generations of only child girls.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
My husband's completely outnumbered in the house, but.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
He loves it because you're not just three generations of
only children who happen to be girls, but you're three
generations of literacy lovers. This whole literacy advocacy did not
start with you.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Correct, correct, So my mom's mom was a big reader,
So my mom grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and her
mom was in something called the Browsers Have You Read It?
Book Club? So I heard about this mythical book club
growing up as a child. Growing up in Akron, Ohio.
My mom's bookshelf actually was in my room, So I
(02:34):
grew up looking at all the spines of these amazing
novels and books that were part of my mom's collection
that just happened to overflow into my room. So I
feel like I've just been surrounded by books themselves, but
also just an appreciation for black literature and author since
I was as long as I can remember, my mom
spent her entire career working at Kent State University, so
(02:55):
I spent those childhood summers going to Kent State for kids,
and so education was always a big part of our household.
At Kent State, and this was the late eighties, there
was a Virginia Hamilton Children's Book Conference, and so that
was also just sort of a part of the backdrop
of my life. So definitely came by this love of
(03:15):
books and reading.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Honestly, so education as a profession has been part of
your life, but it wasn't always business oriented. Even for
you talk to us about the beginnings of how you
became a literacy advocate. How did you get into the
world of really looking at early childhood development and what
it means to you as something that you care about
(03:36):
as a cause.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Motherhood absolutely prompted all of my work in early literacy.
My background from my master's degree is in journalism, and
I spent the early part of that career writing about
small businesses and entrepreneurs for Black Enterprise and other publications.
And it wasn't until I had my daughter in twenty
(03:59):
eleven that I started coming across news articles about vast
reading achievement disparities between black children and white children, and
children from less wealthy backgrounds and more privileged backgrounds. And
so it was absolutely the origin of this entire interest
of digging deeply into the mechanics of how you learned
to read started with becoming a mom.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I love that, and so you became a mom and
before you became an author. And this book is absolutely incredible.
It's been out in hardback for a little bit and
it's come out here in paperback now. It's very exciting
get your copy. But before this, this was a passion
of yours that you expressed in different ways. How have
(04:41):
you been a nteracy advocate and educator before the book
came out?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Before the book came out, I would sort of summarize
the things that I had learned as a result of
just being a curious parent asking these questions. I would
write blog posts on different topics related to books that
I loved, or also research about how kids learned to read.
So it started really as blog posts and just me
wanting to share what I had learned. Also, when we
(05:07):
lived at Richmond lived in Richmond, Virginia, where Zora was born,
there's a big holiday fundraising campaign with the Richmond Times
Dispatch and community organizations, and I was the Richmond Christmas
Mother one year, and I sort of made books my platform,
and we decorated a trolley to capture images from the
(05:29):
classic book The Snowy Day. I gave away copies of
that board book along the parade route. Other people got
in on the excitement and started donating books. So just
by the end of that holiday season, we had given
out a thousand copies of The Snowy Day and Each
Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and a number of other books
by local authors as well, So that sort of was
(05:51):
my official I would say coming out party as a
literary or literacy advocate.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That's wonderful. A lot of times, passion that we find
that turns into a business often starts with volunteer work.
Often starts with things like that, How did it morph
from you know, being the incredible book Santa essentially giving
away you know, thousands of dollars of flugs, being such
a support in the community, to continuing that type of nurturing,
(06:24):
the type of volunteerism with a more business component that
includes the book, the advocacy, the talking, the education. How
did you morph from mom who's in the books to
business mom, moentrepreneur who's got an incredible, well received book
and a whole enterprise.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It was and continues to be, I'd say, a very
slow transition into fully embracing the entrepreneurial elements and the
business side of it. So we moved to Austin, Texas
when Zora was a toddler and preschooler, and there I
really took my interest in the learning about the mechanics
of reading and how kids gained the skills that they need.
(07:05):
Took that to a different level through a ton of volunteering.
So spent almost five years there volunteering with organizations like
literacy coalitions and book festivals and early childhood education programs
and library foundations, in just any way that I could
gain sort of behind the scenes insights into all these
(07:26):
different initiatives that were going to help kids become readers.
And then I got to a point I was also
doing a lot of author interviews, so I had the
opportunity while in Austin interviewed Zadie Smith and just a
number of other authors and wrote for Kirkus Reviews. And
I felt like I was doing a lot of things
that were sort of writing adjacent, but I wasn't writing myself.
(07:51):
And at that point I had, you know, years of
blog posts on this topic, and it was really covid
during the time when we were all quarantined at home
that I really buckled and finished a proposal, got an agent,
got a book deal, and then slow again, a slow
transition from turning the book into a business. The book
is intended for parents of young children, and the business
(08:12):
is more oriented toward serving creating workshops and doing presentations
for professionals who work with children. So that as librarians
and early childhood educators, and even some state departments of
education have hired me to do some training as well.
So it's been a slow, gradual transition.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Would you build a really solid foundation.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yes. I think that people often tell you to pursue
your passions in business, and what they don't tell you
is that when you're doing something that you love, would
do for free and have done for free, it really is.
The mindset shift is the hardest part of turning it
(08:55):
into a business.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Right, because there's value in doing it for free. But
talk to just about the value, the different time of
value that you've gotten out of it now that you're
being paid, because you don't it's not as your sum game,
but it is important, especially as a mother, especially as
a giver a nurturer, to get something out of it
for yourself.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think though, my having my daughter and knowing that
she's watching me, knowing that she's old enough to observe
how I move in the world, really adds a level
of accountability to everything that I do. And I want
her more than anything as she grows and develops and
pursues her interests, whatever they may be. Professionally, I want
(09:41):
her to always value herself and know her worth, and
so she's going to learn that more from seeing how
I move in the world and what I do, how
I conduct myself, how I'm you know, slowly and systematically
building this business. She's going to learn more from watching
me than from me giving her lectures or telling her
how she should be.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So in your own words, I want to talk a
little bit about the book and explain to people what
it is, because a lot of our listeners are one
hundred percent the type of moms who want their kids
to be that kid in kindergarten who's already reading the
chapter book. But before we get into that, let's explain
how the book is not the business. Talk to us
(10:21):
about maya Pain Mompreneur. What is your business that the
book helps to promote and propagate.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Maya Pain a Mompreneur is just a woman on a
mission to help every child have the strong foundation in
language and literacy that they need to thrive as readers
and in school, and more importantly, just in their lives
beyond the walls of school they're in. Our nation is
a lot of discussion in these headlines around just terrible
(10:50):
reading achievement scores across the board in the nation, but
particularly among certain demographics, and people think that the solution
to that is with teacher training and magic reading curricula
and high dosage tutoring, and every single one of those
things is extraordinarily important. But all of those things rest
(11:11):
on a foundation that parents build. And so my mission
is to spread the words to parents that we really
are our children's first teachers, and we're also their best
and fiercest educational advocates when we assume that responsibility. So
the work is about educating anyone, any professionals who interact
(11:34):
with parents about ways that they can help parents nurture
and teach language and literacy skills at home.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I love that. So you're giving them the tools to
be more effective in their teaching.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yes, So initially I started out doing I have sort
of a signature workshop called how to Give Your Child
a Smart Start that is for parents, and so one
of the earliest iterations of this work shop I did
for Chicago Public Library and presented to an audience of
parents on a Sunday afternoon, and then the next morning
I did a half day training for all of their
(12:10):
youth services librarians, because librarians, if you think about it,
are trained in wonderful, amazing children's literature and how to
find information in their databases and on the shelves, but
they haven't been trained in how reading develops and some
of the things that kids need in order to become
independent readers themselves. And so that was sort of my
(12:31):
first professional development workshop, and it was immediately taking me
in a direction that I hadn't anticipated going because I
thought of the book as for parents. I didn't think
of it as a book for people who help parents,
and now I very much think of it also as
the latter, So it allows me to reach more people.
I can only sit in front of so many parent
(12:52):
groups and teach the material myself. So I really love
this idea of teaching preschool teachers and preschool intervention specialists
some of the techniques that are in the book, and librarians.
And another thing that's been really interesting is the interest
in the book and the content among K through twelve educators.
So the hardcover edition of the book, the subtitle was
(13:15):
a Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six, because I
was so focused on those early years. But the book
came out on the heels of COVID, and there's so
much learning loss and there are so many kids who
are so far behind that I had second, third, fourth
grade teachers say this content is still relevant for kids
who are much older than six, and you know, we're
(13:35):
still referring this to parents. So actually, in the paperback edition,
an update was made or a change was made to
the subtitle of the book to sort of broaden it.
And the new subtitle is the Urgency of Early Literacy
and the Action Plan to Help Your Child, So it's
taken out that age range. Although the book definitely emphasizes
(13:55):
starting early at birth and building from there, but it
also so uses the words your child to emphasize the
fact that this really is meant to be a practical,
easy to digest and implement tool for parents.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
So important, And I like what you say about I realized,
you know doing parent workshops. Well, the book is a
parent workshop, right, and individual parents can benefit from that.
But when you teach a parent workshop of thirty individuals,
that's thirty households that you're reaching. But when you teach
a teacher or an educator workshop of thirty teachers or educators,
(14:34):
each of those thirty individuals is touching one hundred lives.
That's literally one hundredfold more of an impact that your
work has.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Absolutely and then it's just been incredible to see the
interest in different categories of professionals that I just hadn't
given much thought to their existence. Even so, the librarians
were the first group that kind of really felt in
affinity for the book, and of course they will because
who more than librarians would be concerned about nurturing the
next generation of readers. But then I've done a number
(15:07):
of workshops for early childhood conferences and organizations, and then
also I mentioned the K through twelve, but now also
having outreach from organizations of pediatricians because they're engaging in
parents at all of those well child visits early in kids' lives,
and that's a great opportunity for them to support parents
(15:28):
and building these skills as well.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It's amazing, and it started with volunteering, It started with
helping in the community, and then in between that and
the book, however, there's a really interesting step that I
think any entrepreneur could very benefit from. Because I give
you so much credit. You are one of the most
prolific people on social media you have been, so everyone
(15:54):
always comes on and says, but you want to have
a business in this day and age, you gotta be
good on social media, and very few people embody it
the way you do. You are consistent, You are providing
content that is helpful and accessible. And do you feel
that you're early before the business existed, before you really
(16:17):
even knew if you were going to get a book
sold or have these workshops going? What inspired you to
get the ball rolling with a very consistent and chop
full of very helpful information type of social media.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
This is one of the most challenging areas of business
for me as a bookish introvert. I have a lot
of thoughts and feelings around how we portray ourselves online
and it's hard. It is it's not me. I think
(16:51):
I'm just old enough that it doesn't come naturally for
me to videotape my life. Like I don't have a
phone on a tripod recording me talking to you. I
just kind of want to be present and live in
my body, in my life and my conversations with people,
and adding this layer of videotaping things is extraordinarily uncomfortable
(17:13):
for me, and so I think that that is good
for other people to hear who also struggle with that,
whether it's generational or personality wise, that you can choose
how you engage. And so for me, what feels authentic
is just trying to be helpful. And that's one of
the things that I get from my mom. My mom
(17:34):
is a super volunteer. She's almost eighty years old, and
she's running circles around me every day with all of
these activities, meetings, and she's gone here and volunteering there.
So I try to view the social media as not
self promotion, but just being of service. So if I
have a piece of advice or a tip, or an
(17:54):
idea or a book recommendation, I've had to work and
it is a rocky road, like even figure buring out
who can help you get these things online. For me,
it's even a challenge, like just to hit publish, you know,
to post something. So I might have to like send
something in put it in a spreadsheet for somebody else
to hit the published button on, because if we would
(18:16):
be waiting forever for me to do it. Same thing
with my newsletter. I've had a weekly newsletter for years,
I want to say, maybe like six seven years, and
so people get at like clockwork every Sunday morning, and
then I have a monthly newsletter that's the first Thursday
of every month, and none of that would go out
if I was a person responsible for hitting send. So
(18:39):
it's also a lesson that to have at least one
other person on your team that can help. If that's
not a strength of yours, if you don't want it,
if you'd rather not be visible.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I think, yes, Maya is not putting herself out there
with her family, and it's and not everyone can do that.
It depends on what they're doing, the type of work
that you do, you can and you throw that line
very beautifully. And also I think one of the things
for people listening if you are looking into a business
(19:12):
that is education oriented. One of the things that Maya
has done very well is the forgotten side of social
media sometimes, which is Pinterest. Talk to the audience about
your Pinterest work and how if someone has an education
based business it might be beneficial for them as well.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
What I love about Pinterest is that the content lives
and the way that a real is over. You know,
the trend is over in sometimes hours, right, but certainly
days or weeks, but Pinterest, you put up something of
interest to people and it lives for years. I still
(19:53):
I haven't been posting on Pinterest recently, but at the
time when I was actively posting there, I'm still a
ton of traffic from the people there. The other lesson
that can be challenging is being very clear about who
your audience is. Some of the content My most popular
content on Pinterest is related to book crafts. I'm interested
(20:16):
in things made of paper, right, So I was at
an event a couple weeks ago and they had these
gorgeous book page or agami kind of centerpieces that were
made from old, outdated books. But they're just absolutely gorgeous. Now,
if I did as I would have five years ago,
(20:36):
a tutorial on the book page centerpiece, it'll get pinned
shared by crafters. Right that those crafters are not necessarily
parents of young children who my content resonates with. Some
proportion of them are, but not the same amount as
someone who pins a piece of content that is about
(20:58):
five things to do with your child after sharing a story. Right,
Like one of those readers or Pinterest viewers is more
closely interested in the core content that I provide so
I get a ton of people who find me through
those Pinterest pens, but only a percentage of them are
like converting or resonate with the real content. So that
(21:21):
is a lesson for people as well, like who do
you really want to attract?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
But isn't that all advertising? Though? You know, and at
the end of the day, one of the things that's
really important is even though those people who like your
book graphs might not mostly be interested in your book,
they increase your follower numbers. And you were able to
amss a large number of followers on Pinterest without showing
(21:47):
your face without you have the tripod at the Chiefecare
factory because of those And would you say that it
was your Pinterest numbers and your overall social media in
your consistency with your newsletter that led to your book
deal that helped you get your book deal.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I think that may have been part of it. I
think also because we were in COVID and there were
so many people quarantined at home with young children, Like imagine,
as a parent, your child is trying to do kindergarten
online and they've never been on a laptop before. They
don't know how to use the mouth and so it's
just also I think timing as well. It was the
(22:27):
right time for this kind of content because parents had
an acute sense of pain around educating their kids. So
I think more than social media that helped.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Well, it's all a combination and you never know what
exactly works, but what we do know is that you
were able to land an incredible book deal with an
amazing publisher. The book has been beloved and now that
it's in paperback, it will be more accessible to families.
So for people who are just finding out about reading
for our lives, what type of support will they find
(23:02):
inside that they can access for a fraction of the
cost of your workshops.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yes, so the book contains the best evidence based practices
for getting young children on the road to reading or
even as I mentioned, earlier and older children, whatever age
they are, they have to have certain foundational skills, and
so it presents in a clear direct way practical things
(23:29):
that any parent can do to support their child without
spending a bunch of money on educational toys or other
things that you think may help, when what they really
need is you and your voice and your attention. So
it is very much meant to be practical and simple,
and a lot of it is oriented around creating some
(23:49):
sound habits so that you can do easily every day
some of these things that really make a big difference
over time. Sometimes we want there to be some new
magic thing that we should be doing, but really it's
back and forth conversation with our kids. Parents are extraordinarily
important as vocabulary builders for children and knowledge builders, and
(24:13):
we can also, when we know what we're doing, do
a great job of helping kids gain familiarity just with
the alphabet and the sounds and how to blend them together.
So there's a lot of work that parents can do
when it's presented to us simply and with an encouraging tone.
So I hope that that is what people will take
away from the book.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
When I first read the book, I thought of the
phrase talk is cheap, But also I'd like to add
that talk is cheap, but it's also valuable because really
what you said, let's not gloss over. You're like, you
just need to talk to your kids, like you can
help your child become a better reader by talking to
them as an infant.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Absolutely, learning to read is really learning to recognize in
writing or in print words, and ideas and concepts that
kids would understand if you had spoken them to them.
So I think a lot of times parents think that
reading is something that starts with teachers in kindergarten and
they're thinking about phonics and they're thinking about sounding things out.
(25:14):
That's a critically important part of learning to read. But
once kids can sound words out, they need to know
what those words mean to make sense of the paragraphs
and the passages and the pages. And that's why we
have these terrible reading scores in our nations. Some kids
don't learn to decode, so the print is just doesn't
(25:35):
mean anything to them. They don't they're unable to pull
words from those symbols on the page. So that is
a terrible place to be the bigger problem. Most kids
will learn to decode to some level, but can they
do it with the fluency that they need to again
hold on to these ideas and make sense of longer passages.
And then there are kids who can sound anything out
(25:57):
that you put in front of them, but they just
don't have the context for the words because no one's
ever spoken to them about those ideas and those concepts.
So parents need to know that they can help enormously,
particularly with babies and toddlers and preschoolers with the oral
language piece, just talking to them and not talking at them, pausing,
(26:20):
asking them questions, giving them a chance to think and respond.
It's really the back and forth, not just the adult
word count that matters.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And also one thing that I think has been a
part of my parenting journey which I think is helpful
is not accidentally discouraging a child by laughing or making
fun if they make a mistake, but just continuing the
conversation in an upbeat and positive way, because sometimes I
realized early on I could be a little sarcastic or
(26:50):
like I oor. Sometimes quite frankly, my child was so
cute in their effort to do something that I found
myself just laughing out of joy. But a sensitive child
takes this as discourage us discouraging. You know, we always
ready to have a good time. But sometimes when you're
having these conversations with kids, how important is it to
(27:11):
not babyfind a situation and to treat them like a
like a colleague or an equal as you're having these discussions,
even if they're just a cute little kid who's mispronounced words.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Absolutely, I think that the spirit that we bring to
it matters, and kids pick up on that, and so
we want to the extent that we can avoid, like
doing things that make the conversation less engaging or fun
for them. So if they feel ridiculed or they feel defensive,
then that's not serving our larger purpose. So I think
(27:46):
a big piece of this and parenting in general, is
just kind of having that mindfulness that in the moment,
awareness and presence of not only what you're saying, but
how they're interpreting it. And I find this even with
the thirteen year old. I'll say one thing and her
interpretation of it is wildly different. She'll repeat it back
(28:07):
to me, like in a more aggressive tone. I'm like,
that's not what I said, that's not what I meant,
that wasn't So we have to, particularly with sensitive kids,
we have to develop our own sensitivity to respond in
ways that are constructive and supportive and nurturing and loving
and all the things.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
We also have to put our big girl panties on
when it comes to these screens because, as you know,
tech is here, it's ubiquitous. These kids are reading. We
don't know when they're comprehending, but how do parents balance
screen time with the activities that promote literacy? Even though
(28:45):
screen time sometimes is reading right, but a lot of
times it's videos. How do we gingerly get more literacy
activities embedded in our day to.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Day I think it helps if the parents start to
earn and also if the parent is aware of the
tech usage you're modeling. If you're always on your phone,
then of course the phone feels like an appropriate way
to spend time for the kid. And also it takes
away if you're locked in on your phone scrolling looking
at whatever you're looking at, then that's taking away from
(29:19):
those deeper, richer conversations with your child. So we have
to start with ourselves. And some parents have found it
helpful just to have like strong boundaries around tech, Like
everybody's phones are plugged in and charging on the kitchen
counter at X o'clock at night, and no one's accessing
them until whatever time the next day. But the extent
(29:42):
that you can delay giving them access to device devices
and the extent to which you can be disciplined around
how much access they have to it. I'm not a
tech savvy person. I have friends who manage the screen.
They can remotely just turn off their child's you know,
Wi Fi access or whatever. I haven't gotten into all that.
I only have one anyway, who's getting older. But it's
(30:04):
what we model, what we tolerate, and sometimes you need people,
friends or your partner to affirm you're the parent, you
set the rules. Don't let these kids run us because
they'll say, oh, everybody this, everybody has Snapchat, everybody has this,
everybody everybody doesn't because you don't first foremos.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It's the blackest praise, not gonna love run us. I
remember when I was trying to figure out how to
become an actual effective mother, and I would call my
mom and I would tell her what.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Was going on, and she was just like, you can't
let your kid run over you, Okay, Like you gotta
let them know who's the parent, which was in a
time where there was corporate punishment, was right.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It was a simpler test. And now we understand the
importance of respecting our children, respecting their boundaries, figuring out
how to cope with the ubiquitous nature of social media,
screen time, and our deep knowledge that you've got to
have more than that.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
It's difficult, it is, and we're getting to a phase
where some people believe that the core kind of reading
and writing skills are less important because you can voice text.
You don't even have to write anymore. You can voice
text this, you can put it in this AI to
clean up your grammar. You can you know, cobble together
these tools to navigate. But there is no substitute for
(31:26):
being able to think on your own and thinking on
paper through reading and writing and underlining and you know,
all of the things that we've been doing for years.
It matters and just the development of you as a person,
even beyond school. So these tech tools will disguise some
(31:47):
of the weaknesses that some people have in their literacy
and their education. But I always say to my daughter,
I was like, do you want to be the person
who is reliant upon all these things? Do you want
to be the person who creates it, owns it and
profits from it.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
What are some of the initiatives or projects that you
have looking ahead that you want to that you want
to continue on. How you want to build upon your workshops?
Is there another book in the works like how do
you plan to further support early literacy development so our
children have options?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I'm still doing some sort of small group virtual book
clubs kind of as a part of the tour for
this book. So I'm trying to do one in every state.
So if you're from Alaska or some of the other
states I haven't done those for definitely reach out through
my website mayasmart dot com. But I still enjoy the
(32:46):
small groups and the conversations and being able to directly
answer people's questions. And then again I'm doing the work
training instructional coaches on how to engage more effectively with
parents and give parents practical tools to support their kids
as readers. So I'm still doing network and work with
pediatricians again, any I'll say family facing professionals, I have
(33:12):
resources and content to help you be more effective in
helping the families you serve. Have a real interest in
doing more work with home visitors, so people who are
you know, right there in the living room with new
moms and their little ones, and they're talking about nursing
and they're talking about all the things, all of these
transitions into motherhood. It's like my big dream that getting parents,
(33:35):
new parents thinking about brain development and early learning will
be a part of those conversations as well.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
There are so many kids and families in need. You
can't reach them all. There might be people listening to
this to say, you know, I have my own twist
on this. I would like to do this type of
work as well. I don't know how to get started.
I don't know how I go from an idea in
my head to workshops, books, presentations. What is your advice
(34:10):
to someone who feels that they have a gift, whether
it is specifically literacy, education, or could be science, could
be tech, could be AI, it could be anything. What
is your advice to someone who wants to create a
business in the healthing space.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
I would say, should.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
They think about beginning?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I think that they should immerse themselves in what's out
there and sort of uncover what their unique spend or
take on it is. I've been I support a number
of different nonprofit organizations, but have no desire to start
one or lead one myself. But those five years that
I spent volunteering in all of these different elements of
(34:52):
the space really refine my understanding of the problem. And
so in business, you're not ever going to make any
money if you're not solving a problem, if you're not
giving people something that they want, And so taking the
time to figure that out, not what you want to
give them. You know that.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I love my children. Just had an interview for the
National Urban League's Business.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Camp and one child, I think, she was like, what
kind of business do you want to start? And they
were throwing out ideas and then someone said because they're kids,
like elimonade stand and ms rond. She was like, no, no,
because what kind of problem does that solve? You need
to know that the first step of business is you
(35:35):
need to solve a problem.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
And I just was cracking. It was so cute, But
you're totally right, like you're solving a problem. Kids can't
really good what is the problem?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I find the people who have a sense of urgency
about that, and it's often it's not the people you think.
The people, the parents who are in the greatest need
for the kind of content that's in my book are
not interested in reading two hundred pages about it, Like
they're not even aware that they have a problem. There
are going to be the parents who their child is
(36:09):
in school, they're having the parent teacher conference and they
learn at that point when the child's eight, nine, ten, eleven,
that there is a problem. So part of my journey
in business was figuring out, well, who gets that this
is a problem. Community leaders get it. Employers who don't
have people who are literate enough to follow their policies
(36:30):
and procedures and do the work know that there's a problem.
Librarians know there's a problem.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
So which is why it's smart for you to expand
your offerings to the people who can help the kids
whose parents don't necessarily know the urgency.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
And that's another business lesson. Like you, you are not
the right messenger sometimes for everyone. Like you have your people,
and a lot of this is about attracting and repelling.
So there are some people and that's why the book
helps because by the time someone spent that length of
time with me, or even better yet, listen to the audiobooks,
(37:09):
so listen to me for six hours, they're more receptive
and ready for like a consulting engagement or something than
someone who hasn't. Sort of like they're their self selecting.
So some people, there is a mom somewhere who is
unaware that they have a problem. This isn't on their radar,
and reading for their lives, Reading for our lives isn't
(37:31):
the best way to reach that mom. But you're right.
If I reached the home visitor that goes into her
home and is from her community and has a relationship
with her and understands all the things that she's facing
day to day, that's a better messenger.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Before we go our time, Sulmo's up. But my favorite
segment is what I call mom Preneur's manifestation, And I
ask all of our guests what you're trying to make
happen and how we can help bring in into the
universe for you.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
So I'm trying to eliminate reading achievement gaps between black
children and white children. There's nothing wrong with black children
that prevents them from becoming skilled, fluent, thriving readers, Like
we're evidence of that. So when kids aren't having those results,
it's because there are things in their environment or their schools,
(38:22):
or their homes, or their are other adult things that
are responsible for the outcome. So I want to raise
public awareness of what goes into reading success early so
that more parents can give those kids those gifts so
they can thrive.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
How can we help in this endeavor?
Speaker 2 (38:40):
You can help in this endeavor if you have a
black child, if you know black child, which is everyone right,
think of what you would do for your child. Think
about if you have an older child, think about what
they needed to be on this path and what they needed.
In the book outline all of this is they need
(39:01):
back and forth conversation with you even before they can speak.
So treating those coups and babbles as if their conversation
and responding and really helping parents. Any parent you know
at church, your neighbor, your niece, whoever has a baby,
let them know the power and their voice and the
power in the relationship that they forged with their child
(39:22):
just through conversation. And then sharing books is important because
it introduces a wider range of vocabulary and ideas and
they would get in everyday speech where honestly many parents
are like, sit down, be quiet, you know you're not
using the money, or.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
They get frustrated that their kids. I remember when mine
were very little, especially my firstborn, I was very much
adamant that we practiced from the time to yourself eye contact,
asking questions at dinner, and there was like a six
month period where he was just like, oh my god,
hate this so much, but have a conversation. What do
(39:57):
we say, how much your day my day was great?
Thank you? What did you saw? And I was like,
come on, can we come on new questions? That was it?
How was yo day? What did you saw? But eventually
it clicked, you know, and I never made him feel
bad about that, you know, I this is good, how
jo day? What did you saw? So run a joke
(40:18):
in my household now, because now they're delightful, they're ready
for any dinner party, you know. It just it's I
think sometimes parents expect it to all happen so fast,
you know, it's just it's it's for the most intelligent
of children, it can be the slowest of burns. And
even still, like you said with your thirteen year old,
we can't we cannot expect perfection. We just have to
(40:40):
expect a snowball of learned lessons over continued communication and efforts.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Absolutely, and it's okay to start small, you know. We
can't expect, especially with the little ones. Their attention spans.
So read the story for five I always say five
good minutes because people have these image of people reading
Harry Potter for an hour every night, and that's not
you know. So there's a.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Reason picture books are thirty two pages. That's that it
should not be. They don't have the tenchespan. You exhausted,
but that's better than nothing. You start small, you snowball
into something incredible. And that's exactly what you've done with
your business with your book. And another thing people can
do who are listening is a lot of times people
(41:27):
buy this book, even when they don't have kids. They
buy it, they donate it. They buy twenty copies, they
donate one to each classroom in their school, they donate
them to the local tutoring center. That that's something that's
the way people can really help to spread the information,
or they can bring a workshop to their area. Hey,
Alaska people, but anybody can spread the word and the movement.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Now we've learned all about what you do, your literacy advocate,
how people can learn from you through your workshops and books.
Can you tell us maya pain Smart where people can
find you and the work that you do so they
can learn more on their own.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yes, I am online at mayasmart dot com, m a
y a smart dot com and you'll see a resources
page there every Monday there's something new. So it might
be a list of children's books about spring or a
list of or an activity that you can do, a
nature letter, scavenger hunt that you can do with your child.
(42:31):
So everything is literacy related. I read with me recipes.
Now we'll say all the recipes don't taste the best
because they're about spelling patterns and ingredients and words that
the kids can read. But it's a fun activity to
do with little one. So every Monday there's something new,
and that resources section the newsletter comes out every Sunday.
And you can see my different speaking topics at mayasmart
(42:54):
dot com slash speaking if you'd like to bring me
out for a workshop virtually or person. So that's that's
my my virtual home.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Thanks so much for listening to and watching mom entpreneurs.
As a reminder of brand new episode goes live each
week on Urban one podcast Network, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or
wherever you get your podcasts. Visit Urban onepodcast dot com
to learn more. That's Urban the number one podcast dot com.
Hey, is your girl, Nancy read? And this is season
(00:02):
four of Mompreneurs, wherein we celebrate beautiful black entrepreneurs who
are also amazing moms. Now every week I'm chatting with
my guests about how they're killing it simultaneously as a
business mogul and a mom, listening to their aspiring journeys
and incredible advice. Now, mama's of littles, listen up, because
my next guest is here to get your baby college
(00:23):
bound from before they can even speak. Maya pain Smart
is an incredible woman that I have known for over
half my life, and she is a book lover. She
is a literacy advocate, and she is the author of
Reading for Our Lives, a literacy action Plan from Birth
to six and now it is out in paperback, which
is very exciting, and it is a must read for
(00:46):
parents and caregivers if they have anyone in their life
that they care about making the difference for their future. Maya,
I am so glad to have you here with us.
You are absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Thank you so much for having me, Nancy, I'm excited
to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay, so before we get into the business side of things,
talking about your book, your literacy advocacy and more. Talk
to us about what's going on in your household. Let's
get a little personal. Who puts the mom in your mompreneur.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
So, I'm the daughter of one fabulous thirteen year old
Zora who's named after the author Zora Neil Hurston, and
she has just transformed my life in so many wonderful ways.
So it's an honor to be her mom and to
drive her all around creation for her various sports and activities. Also,
my husband, Shaka, who's a basketball coach at Marquette University,
(01:38):
and my mom, we're all very privileged and blessed to
have my mom, Margaret Payne in the house with us
as well. So we have a four person household. My
mom is an only child, I'm an only child, and
my daughter is an only child, so we have a special.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Three generations of only child girls.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
My husband's completely outnumbered in the house, but.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
He loves it because you're not just three generations of
only children who happen to be girls, but you're three
generations of literacy lovers. This whole literacy advocacy did not
start with you.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Correct, correct, So my mom's mom was a big reader,
So my mom grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and her
mom was in something called the Browsers Have You Read It?
Book Club? So I heard about this mythical book club
growing up as a child. Growing up in Akron, Ohio.
My mom's bookshelf actually was in my room, So I
(02:34):
grew up looking at all the spines of these amazing
novels and books that were part of my mom's collection
that just happened to overflow into my room. So I
feel like I've just been surrounded by books themselves, but
also just an appreciation for black literature and author since
I was as long as I can remember, my mom
spent her entire career working at Kent State University, so
(02:55):
I spent those childhood summers going to Kent State for kids,
and so education was always a big part of our household.
At Kent State, and this was the late eighties, there
was a Virginia Hamilton Children's Book Conference, and so that
was also just sort of a part of the backdrop
of my life. So definitely came by this love of
(03:15):
books and reading.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Honestly, so education as a profession has been part of
your life, but it wasn't always business oriented. Even for
you talk to us about the beginnings of how you
became a literacy advocate. How did you get into the
world of really looking at early childhood development and what
it means to you as something that you care about
(03:36):
as a cause.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Motherhood absolutely prompted all of my work in early literacy.
My background from my master's degree is in journalism, and
I spent the early part of that career writing about
small businesses and entrepreneurs for Black Enterprise and other publications.
And it wasn't until I had my daughter in twenty
(03:59):
eleven that I started coming across news articles about vast
reading achievement disparities between black children and white children, and
children from less wealthy backgrounds and more privileged backgrounds. And
so it was absolutely the origin of this entire interest
of digging deeply into the mechanics of how you learned
to read started with becoming a mom.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I love that, and so you became a mom and
before you became an author. And this book is absolutely incredible.
It's been out in hardback for a little bit and
it's come out here in paperback now. It's very exciting
get your copy. But before this, this was a passion
of yours that you expressed in different ways. How have
(04:41):
you been a nteracy advocate and educator before the book
came out?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Before the book came out, I would sort of summarize
the things that I had learned as a result of
just being a curious parent asking these questions. I would
write blog posts on different topics related to books that
I loved, or also research about how kids learned to read.
So it started really as blog posts and just me
wanting to share what I had learned. Also, when we
(05:07):
lived at Richmond lived in Richmond, Virginia, where Zora was born,
there's a big holiday fundraising campaign with the Richmond Times
Dispatch and community organizations, and I was the Richmond Christmas
Mother one year, and I sort of made books my platform,
and we decorated a trolley to capture images from the
(05:29):
classic book The Snowy Day. I gave away copies of
that board book along the parade route. Other people got
in on the excitement and started donating books. So just
by the end of that holiday season, we had given
out a thousand copies of The Snowy Day and Each
Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and a number of other books
by local authors as well, So that sort of was
(05:51):
my official I would say coming out party as a
literary or literacy advocate.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That's wonderful. A lot of times, passion that we find
that turns into a business often starts with volunteer work.
Often starts with things like that, How did it morph
from you know, being the incredible book Santa essentially giving
away you know, thousands of dollars of flugs, being such
a support in the community, to continuing that type of nurturing,
(06:24):
the type of volunteerism with a more business component that
includes the book, the advocacy, the talking, the education. How
did you morph from mom who's in the books to
business mom, moentrepreneur who's got an incredible, well received book
and a whole enterprise.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It was and continues to be, I'd say, a very
slow transition into fully embracing the entrepreneurial elements and the
business side of it. So we moved to Austin, Texas
when Zora was a toddler and preschooler, and there I
really took my interest in the learning about the mechanics
of reading and how kids gained the skills that they need.
(07:05):
Took that to a different level through a ton of volunteering.
So spent almost five years there volunteering with organizations like
literacy coalitions and book festivals and early childhood education programs
and library foundations, in just any way that I could
gain sort of behind the scenes insights into all these
(07:26):
different initiatives that were going to help kids become readers.
And then I got to a point I was also
doing a lot of author interviews, so I had the
opportunity while in Austin interviewed Zadie Smith and just a
number of other authors and wrote for Kirkus Reviews. And
I felt like I was doing a lot of things
that were sort of writing adjacent, but I wasn't writing myself.
(07:51):
And at that point I had, you know, years of
blog posts on this topic, and it was really covid
during the time when we were all quarantined at home
that I really buckled and finished a proposal, got an agent,
got a book deal, and then slow again, a slow
transition from turning the book into a business. The book
is intended for parents of young children, and the business
(08:12):
is more oriented toward serving creating workshops and doing presentations
for professionals who work with children. So that as librarians
and early childhood educators, and even some state departments of
education have hired me to do some training as well.
So it's been a slow, gradual transition.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Would you build a really solid foundation.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yes. I think that people often tell you to pursue
your passions in business, and what they don't tell you
is that when you're doing something that you love, would
do for free and have done for free, it really is.
The mindset shift is the hardest part of turning it
(08:55):
into a business.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Right, because there's value in doing it for free. But
talk to just about the value, the different time of
value that you've gotten out of it now that you're
being paid, because you don't it's not as your sum game,
but it is important, especially as a mother, especially as
a giver a nurturer, to get something out of it
for yourself.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I think though, my having my daughter and knowing that
she's watching me, knowing that she's old enough to observe
how I move in the world, really adds a level
of accountability to everything that I do. And I want
her more than anything as she grows and develops and
pursues her interests, whatever they may be. Professionally, I want
(09:41):
her to always value herself and know her worth, and
so she's going to learn that more from seeing how
I move in the world and what I do, how
I conduct myself, how I'm you know, slowly and systematically
building this business. She's going to learn more from watching
me than from me giving her lectures or telling her
how she should be.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So in your own words, I want to talk a
little bit about the book and explain to people what
it is, because a lot of our listeners are one
hundred percent the type of moms who want their kids
to be that kid in kindergarten who's already reading the
chapter book. But before we get into that, let's explain
how the book is not the business. Talk to us
(10:21):
about maya Pain Mompreneur. What is your business that the
book helps to promote and propagate.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Maya Pain a Mompreneur is just a woman on a
mission to help every child have the strong foundation in
language and literacy that they need to thrive as readers
and in school, and more importantly, just in their lives
beyond the walls of school they're in. Our nation is
a lot of discussion in these headlines around just terrible
(10:50):
reading achievement scores across the board in the nation, but
particularly among certain demographics, and people think that the solution
to that is with teacher training and magic reading curricula
and high dosage tutoring, and every single one of those
things is extraordinarily important. But all of those things rest
(11:11):
on a foundation that parents build. And so my mission
is to spread the words to parents that we really
are our children's first teachers, and we're also their best
and fiercest educational advocates when we assume that responsibility. So
the work is about educating anyone, any professionals who interact
(11:34):
with parents about ways that they can help parents nurture
and teach language and literacy skills at home.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I love that. So you're giving them the tools to
be more effective in their teaching.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yes, So initially I started out doing I have sort
of a signature workshop called how to Give Your Child
a Smart Start that is for parents, and so one
of the earliest iterations of this work shop I did
for Chicago Public Library and presented to an audience of
parents on a Sunday afternoon, and then the next morning
I did a half day training for all of their
(12:10):
youth services librarians, because librarians, if you think about it,
are trained in wonderful, amazing children's literature and how to
find information in their databases and on the shelves, but
they haven't been trained in how reading develops and some
of the things that kids need in order to become
independent readers themselves. And so that was sort of my
(12:31):
first professional development workshop, and it was immediately taking me
in a direction that I hadn't anticipated going because I
thought of the book as for parents. I didn't think
of it as a book for people who help parents,
and now I very much think of it also as
the latter, So it allows me to reach more people.
I can only sit in front of so many parent
(12:52):
groups and teach the material myself. So I really love
this idea of teaching preschool teachers and preschool intervention specialists
some of the techniques that are in the book, and librarians.
And another thing that's been really interesting is the interest
in the book and the content among K through twelve educators.
So the hardcover edition of the book, the subtitle was
(13:15):
a Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six, because I
was so focused on those early years. But the book
came out on the heels of COVID, and there's so
much learning loss and there are so many kids who
are so far behind that I had second, third, fourth
grade teachers say this content is still relevant for kids
who are much older than six, and you know, we're
(13:35):
still referring this to parents. So actually, in the paperback edition,
an update was made or a change was made to
the subtitle of the book to sort of broaden it.
And the new subtitle is the Urgency of Early Literacy
and the Action Plan to Help Your Child, So it's
taken out that age range. Although the book definitely emphasizes
(13:55):
starting early at birth and building from there, but it
also so uses the words your child to emphasize the
fact that this really is meant to be a practical,
easy to digest and implement tool for parents.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
So important, And I like what you say about I realized,
you know doing parent workshops. Well, the book is a
parent workshop, right, and individual parents can benefit from that.
But when you teach a parent workshop of thirty individuals,
that's thirty households that you're reaching. But when you teach
a teacher or an educator workshop of thirty teachers or educators,
(14:34):
each of those thirty individuals is touching one hundred lives.
That's literally one hundredfold more of an impact that your
work has.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Absolutely and then it's just been incredible to see the
interest in different categories of professionals that I just hadn't
given much thought to their existence. Even so, the librarians
were the first group that kind of really felt in
affinity for the book, and of course they will because
who more than librarians would be concerned about nurturing the
next generation of readers. But then I've done a number
(15:07):
of workshops for early childhood conferences and organizations, and then
also I mentioned the K through twelve, but now also
having outreach from organizations of pediatricians because they're engaging in
parents at all of those well child visits early in kids' lives,
and that's a great opportunity for them to support parents
(15:28):
and building these skills as well.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It's amazing, and it started with volunteering, It started with
helping in the community, and then in between that and
the book, however, there's a really interesting step that I
think any entrepreneur could very benefit from. Because I give
you so much credit. You are one of the most
prolific people on social media you have been, so everyone
(15:54):
always comes on and says, but you want to have
a business in this day and age, you gotta be
good on social media, and very few people embody it
the way you do. You are consistent, You are providing
content that is helpful and accessible. And do you feel
that you're early before the business existed, before you really
(16:17):
even knew if you were going to get a book
sold or have these workshops going? What inspired you to
get the ball rolling with a very consistent and chop
full of very helpful information type of social media.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
This is one of the most challenging areas of business
for me as a bookish introvert. I have a lot
of thoughts and feelings around how we portray ourselves online
and it's hard. It is it's not me. I think
(16:51):
I'm just old enough that it doesn't come naturally for
me to videotape my life. Like I don't have a
phone on a tripod recording me talking to you. I
just kind of want to be present and live in
my body, in my life and my conversations with people,
and adding this layer of videotaping things is extraordinarily uncomfortable
(17:13):
for me, and so I think that that is good
for other people to hear who also struggle with that,
whether it's generational or personality wise, that you can choose
how you engage. And so for me, what feels authentic
is just trying to be helpful. And that's one of
the things that I get from my mom. My mom
(17:34):
is a super volunteer. She's almost eighty years old, and
she's running circles around me every day with all of
these activities, meetings, and she's gone here and volunteering there.
So I try to view the social media as not
self promotion, but just being of service. So if I
have a piece of advice or a tip, or an
(17:54):
idea or a book recommendation, I've had to work and
it is a rocky road, like even figure buring out
who can help you get these things online. For me,
it's even a challenge, like just to hit publish, you know,
to post something. So I might have to like send
something in put it in a spreadsheet for somebody else
to hit the published button on, because if we would
(18:16):
be waiting forever for me to do it. Same thing
with my newsletter. I've had a weekly newsletter for years,
I want to say, maybe like six seven years, and
so people get at like clockwork every Sunday morning, and
then I have a monthly newsletter that's the first Thursday
of every month, and none of that would go out
if I was a person responsible for hitting send. So
(18:39):
it's also a lesson that to have at least one
other person on your team that can help. If that's
not a strength of yours, if you don't want it,
if you'd rather not be visible.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I think, yes, Maya is not putting herself out there
with her family, and it's and not everyone can do that.
It depends on what they're doing, the type of work
that you do, you can and you throw that line
very beautifully. And also I think one of the things
for people listening if you are looking into a business
(19:12):
that is education oriented. One of the things that Maya
has done very well is the forgotten side of social
media sometimes, which is Pinterest. Talk to the audience about
your Pinterest work and how if someone has an education
based business it might be beneficial for them as well.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
What I love about Pinterest is that the content lives
and the way that a real is over. You know,
the trend is over in sometimes hours, right, but certainly
days or weeks, but Pinterest, you put up something of
interest to people and it lives for years. I still
(19:53):
I haven't been posting on Pinterest recently, but at the
time when I was actively posting there, I'm still a
ton of traffic from the people there. The other lesson
that can be challenging is being very clear about who
your audience is. Some of the content My most popular
content on Pinterest is related to book crafts. I'm interested
(20:16):
in things made of paper, right, So I was at
an event a couple weeks ago and they had these
gorgeous book page or agami kind of centerpieces that were
made from old, outdated books. But they're just absolutely gorgeous. Now,
if I did as I would have five years ago,
(20:36):
a tutorial on the book page centerpiece, it'll get pinned
shared by crafters. Right that those crafters are not necessarily
parents of young children who my content resonates with. Some
proportion of them are, but not the same amount as
someone who pins a piece of content that is about
(20:58):
five things to do with your child after sharing a story. Right,
Like one of those readers or Pinterest viewers is more
closely interested in the core content that I provide so
I get a ton of people who find me through
those Pinterest pens, but only a percentage of them are
like converting or resonate with the real content. So that
(21:21):
is a lesson for people as well, like who do
you really want to attract?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
But isn't that all advertising? Though? You know, and at
the end of the day, one of the things that's
really important is even though those people who like your
book graphs might not mostly be interested in your book,
they increase your follower numbers. And you were able to
amss a large number of followers on Pinterest without showing
(21:47):
your face without you have the tripod at the Chiefecare
factory because of those And would you say that it
was your Pinterest numbers and your overall social media in
your consistency with your newsletter that led to your book
deal that helped you get your book deal.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I think that may have been part of it. I
think also because we were in COVID and there were
so many people quarantined at home with young children, Like imagine,
as a parent, your child is trying to do kindergarten
online and they've never been on a laptop before. They
don't know how to use the mouth and so it's
just also I think timing as well. It was the
(22:27):
right time for this kind of content because parents had
an acute sense of pain around educating their kids. So
I think more than social media that helped.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Well, it's all a combination and you never know what
exactly works, but what we do know is that you
were able to land an incredible book deal with an
amazing publisher. The book has been beloved and now that
it's in paperback, it will be more accessible to families.
So for people who are just finding out about reading
for our lives, what type of support will they find
(23:02):
inside that they can access for a fraction of the
cost of your workshops.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yes, so the book contains the best evidence based practices
for getting young children on the road to reading or
even as I mentioned, earlier and older children, whatever age
they are, they have to have certain foundational skills, and
so it presents in a clear direct way practical things
(23:29):
that any parent can do to support their child without
spending a bunch of money on educational toys or other
things that you think may help, when what they really
need is you and your voice and your attention. So
it is very much meant to be practical and simple,
and a lot of it is oriented around creating some
(23:49):
sound habits so that you can do easily every day
some of these things that really make a big difference
over time. Sometimes we want there to be some new
magic thing that we should be doing, but really it's
back and forth conversation with our kids. Parents are extraordinarily
important as vocabulary builders for children and knowledge builders, and
(24:13):
we can also, when we know what we're doing, do
a great job of helping kids gain familiarity just with
the alphabet and the sounds and how to blend them together.
So there's a lot of work that parents can do
when it's presented to us simply and with an encouraging tone.
So I hope that that is what people will take
away from the book.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
When I first read the book, I thought of the
phrase talk is cheap, But also I'd like to add
that talk is cheap, but it's also valuable because really
what you said, let's not gloss over. You're like, you
just need to talk to your kids, like you can
help your child become a better reader by talking to
them as an infant.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Absolutely, learning to read is really learning to recognize in
writing or in print words, and ideas and concepts that
kids would understand if you had spoken them to them.
So I think a lot of times parents think that
reading is something that starts with teachers in kindergarten and
they're thinking about phonics and they're thinking about sounding things out.
(25:14):
That's a critically important part of learning to read. But
once kids can sound words out, they need to know
what those words mean to make sense of the paragraphs
and the passages and the pages. And that's why we
have these terrible reading scores in our nations. Some kids
don't learn to decode, so the print is just doesn't
(25:35):
mean anything to them. They don't they're unable to pull
words from those symbols on the page. So that is
a terrible place to be the bigger problem. Most kids
will learn to decode to some level, but can they
do it with the fluency that they need to again
hold on to these ideas and make sense of longer passages.
And then there are kids who can sound anything out
(25:57):
that you put in front of them, but they just
don't have the context for the words because no one's
ever spoken to them about those ideas and those concepts.
So parents need to know that they can help enormously,
particularly with babies and toddlers and preschoolers with the oral
language piece, just talking to them and not talking at them, pausing,
(26:20):
asking them questions, giving them a chance to think and respond.
It's really the back and forth, not just the adult
word count that matters.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
And also one thing that I think has been a
part of my parenting journey which I think is helpful
is not accidentally discouraging a child by laughing or making
fun if they make a mistake, but just continuing the
conversation in an upbeat and positive way, because sometimes I
realized early on I could be a little sarcastic or
(26:50):
like I oor. Sometimes quite frankly, my child was so
cute in their effort to do something that I found
myself just laughing out of joy. But a sensitive child
takes this as discourage us discouraging. You know, we always
ready to have a good time. But sometimes when you're
having these conversations with kids, how important is it to
(27:11):
not babyfind a situation and to treat them like a
like a colleague or an equal as you're having these discussions,
even if they're just a cute little kid who's mispronounced words.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Absolutely, I think that the spirit that we bring to
it matters, and kids pick up on that, and so
we want to the extent that we can avoid, like
doing things that make the conversation less engaging or fun
for them. So if they feel ridiculed or they feel defensive,
then that's not serving our larger purpose. So I think
(27:46):
a big piece of this and parenting in general, is
just kind of having that mindfulness that in the moment,
awareness and presence of not only what you're saying, but
how they're interpreting it. And I find this even with
the thirteen year old. I'll say one thing and her
interpretation of it is wildly different. She'll repeat it back
(28:07):
to me, like in a more aggressive tone. I'm like,
that's not what I said, that's not what I meant,
that wasn't So we have to, particularly with sensitive kids,
we have to develop our own sensitivity to respond in
ways that are constructive and supportive and nurturing and loving
and all the things.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
We also have to put our big girl panties on
when it comes to these screens because, as you know,
tech is here, it's ubiquitous. These kids are reading. We
don't know when they're comprehending, but how do parents balance
screen time with the activities that promote literacy? Even though
(28:45):
screen time sometimes is reading right, but a lot of
times it's videos. How do we gingerly get more literacy
activities embedded in our day to.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Day I think it helps if the parents start to
earn and also if the parent is aware of the
tech usage you're modeling. If you're always on your phone,
then of course the phone feels like an appropriate way
to spend time for the kid. And also it takes
away if you're locked in on your phone scrolling looking
at whatever you're looking at, then that's taking away from
(29:19):
those deeper, richer conversations with your child. So we have
to start with ourselves. And some parents have found it
helpful just to have like strong boundaries around tech, Like
everybody's phones are plugged in and charging on the kitchen
counter at X o'clock at night, and no one's accessing
them until whatever time the next day. But the extent
(29:42):
that you can delay giving them access to device devices
and the extent to which you can be disciplined around
how much access they have to it. I'm not a
tech savvy person. I have friends who manage the screen.
They can remotely just turn off their child's you know,
Wi Fi access or whatever. I haven't gotten into all that.
I only have one anyway, who's getting older. But it's
(30:04):
what we model, what we tolerate, and sometimes you need people,
friends or your partner to affirm you're the parent, you
set the rules. Don't let these kids run us because
they'll say, oh, everybody this, everybody has Snapchat, everybody has this,
everybody everybody doesn't because you don't first foremos.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It's the blackest praise, not gonna love run us. I
remember when I was trying to figure out how to
become an actual effective mother, and I would call my
mom and I would tell her what.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Was going on, and she was just like, you can't
let your kid run over you, Okay, Like you gotta
let them know who's the parent, which was in a
time where there was corporate punishment, was right.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
It was a simpler test. And now we understand the
importance of respecting our children, respecting their boundaries, figuring out
how to cope with the ubiquitous nature of social media,
screen time, and our deep knowledge that you've got to
have more than that.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
It's difficult, it is, and we're getting to a phase
where some people believe that the core kind of reading
and writing skills are less important because you can voice text.
You don't even have to write anymore. You can voice
text this, you can put it in this AI to
clean up your grammar. You can you know, cobble together
these tools to navigate. But there is no substitute for
(31:26):
being able to think on your own and thinking on
paper through reading and writing and underlining and you know,
all of the things that we've been doing for years.
It matters and just the development of you as a person,
even beyond school. So these tech tools will disguise some
(31:47):
of the weaknesses that some people have in their literacy
and their education. But I always say to my daughter,
I was like, do you want to be the person
who is reliant upon all these things? Do you want
to be the person who creates it, owns it and
profits from it.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
What are some of the initiatives or projects that you
have looking ahead that you want to that you want
to continue on. How you want to build upon your workshops?
Is there another book in the works like how do
you plan to further support early literacy development so our
children have options?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I'm still doing some sort of small group virtual book
clubs kind of as a part of the tour for
this book. So I'm trying to do one in every state.
So if you're from Alaska or some of the other
states I haven't done those for definitely reach out through
my website mayasmart dot com. But I still enjoy the
(32:46):
small groups and the conversations and being able to directly
answer people's questions. And then again I'm doing the work
training instructional coaches on how to engage more effectively with
parents and give parents practical tools to support their kids
as readers. So I'm still doing network and work with
pediatricians again, any I'll say family facing professionals, I have
(33:12):
resources and content to help you be more effective in
helping the families you serve. Have a real interest in
doing more work with home visitors, so people who are
you know, right there in the living room with new
moms and their little ones, and they're talking about nursing
and they're talking about all the things, all of these
transitions into motherhood. It's like my big dream that getting parents,
(33:35):
new parents thinking about brain development and early learning will
be a part of those conversations as well.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
There are so many kids and families in need. You
can't reach them all. There might be people listening to
this to say, you know, I have my own twist
on this. I would like to do this type of
work as well. I don't know how to get started.
I don't know how I go from an idea in
my head to workshops, books, presentations. What is your advice
(34:10):
to someone who feels that they have a gift, whether
it is specifically literacy, education, or could be science, could
be tech, could be AI, it could be anything. What
is your advice to someone who wants to create a
business in the healthing space.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
I would say, should.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
They think about beginning?
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I think that they should immerse themselves in what's out
there and sort of uncover what their unique spend or
take on it is. I've been I support a number
of different nonprofit organizations, but have no desire to start
one or lead one myself. But those five years that
I spent volunteering in all of these different elements of
(34:52):
the space really refine my understanding of the problem. And
so in business, you're not ever going to make any
money if you're not solving a problem, if you're not
giving people something that they want, And so taking the
time to figure that out, not what you want to
give them. You know that.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
I love my children. Just had an interview for the
National Urban League's Business.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Camp and one child, I think, she was like, what
kind of business do you want to start? And they
were throwing out ideas and then someone said because they're kids,
like elimonade stand and ms rond. She was like, no, no,
because what kind of problem does that solve? You need
to know that the first step of business is you
(35:35):
need to solve a problem.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
And I just was cracking. It was so cute, But
you're totally right, like you're solving a problem. Kids can't
really good what is the problem?
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I find the people who have a sense of urgency
about that, and it's often it's not the people you think.
The people, the parents who are in the greatest need
for the kind of content that's in my book are
not interested in reading two hundred pages about it, Like
they're not even aware that they have a problem. There
are going to be the parents who their child is
(36:09):
in school, they're having the parent teacher conference and they
learn at that point when the child's eight, nine, ten, eleven,
that there is a problem. So part of my journey
in business was figuring out, well, who gets that this
is a problem. Community leaders get it. Employers who don't
have people who are literate enough to follow their policies
(36:30):
and procedures and do the work know that there's a problem.
Librarians know there's a problem.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
So which is why it's smart for you to expand
your offerings to the people who can help the kids
whose parents don't necessarily know the urgency.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
And that's another business lesson. Like you, you are not
the right messenger sometimes for everyone. Like you have your people,
and a lot of this is about attracting and repelling.
So there are some people and that's why the book
helps because by the time someone spent that length of
time with me, or even better yet, listen to the audiobooks,
(37:09):
so listen to me for six hours, they're more receptive
and ready for like a consulting engagement or something than
someone who hasn't. Sort of like they're their self selecting.
So some people, there is a mom somewhere who is
unaware that they have a problem. This isn't on their radar,
and reading for their lives, Reading for our lives isn't
(37:31):
the best way to reach that mom. But you're right.
If I reached the home visitor that goes into her
home and is from her community and has a relationship
with her and understands all the things that she's facing
day to day, that's a better messenger.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Before we go our time, Sulmo's up. But my favorite
segment is what I call mom Preneur's manifestation, And I
ask all of our guests what you're trying to make
happen and how we can help bring in into the
universe for you.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
So I'm trying to eliminate reading achievement gaps between black
children and white children. There's nothing wrong with black children
that prevents them from becoming skilled, fluent, thriving readers, Like
we're evidence of that. So when kids aren't having those results,
it's because there are things in their environment or their schools,
(38:22):
or their homes, or their are other adult things that
are responsible for the outcome. So I want to raise
public awareness of what goes into reading success early so
that more parents can give those kids those gifts so
they can thrive.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
How can we help in this endeavor?
Speaker 2 (38:40):
You can help in this endeavor if you have a
black child, if you know black child, which is everyone right,
think of what you would do for your child. Think
about if you have an older child, think about what
they needed to be on this path and what they needed.
In the book outline all of this is they need
(39:01):
back and forth conversation with you even before they can speak.
So treating those coups and babbles as if their conversation
and responding and really helping parents. Any parent you know
at church, your neighbor, your niece, whoever has a baby,
let them know the power and their voice and the
power in the relationship that they forged with their child
(39:22):
just through conversation. And then sharing books is important because
it introduces a wider range of vocabulary and ideas and
they would get in everyday speech where honestly many parents
are like, sit down, be quiet, you know you're not
using the money, or.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
They get frustrated that their kids. I remember when mine
were very little, especially my firstborn, I was very much
adamant that we practiced from the time to yourself eye contact,
asking questions at dinner, and there was like a six
month period where he was just like, oh my god,
hate this so much, but have a conversation. What do
(39:57):
we say, how much your day my day was great?
Thank you? What did you saw? And I was like,
come on, can we come on new questions? That was it?
How was yo day? What did you saw? But eventually
it clicked, you know, and I never made him feel
bad about that, you know, I this is good, how
jo day? What did you saw? So run a joke
(40:18):
in my household now, because now they're delightful, they're ready
for any dinner party, you know. It just it's I
think sometimes parents expect it to all happen so fast,
you know, it's just it's it's for the most intelligent
of children, it can be the slowest of burns. And
even still, like you said with your thirteen year old,
we can't we cannot expect perfection. We just have to
(40:40):
expect a snowball of learned lessons over continued communication and efforts.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Absolutely, and it's okay to start small, you know. We
can't expect, especially with the little ones. Their attention spans.
So read the story for five I always say five
good minutes because people have these image of people reading
Harry Potter for an hour every night, and that's not
you know. So there's a.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Reason picture books are thirty two pages. That's that it
should not be. They don't have the tenchespan. You exhausted,
but that's better than nothing. You start small, you snowball
into something incredible. And that's exactly what you've done with
your business with your book. And another thing people can
do who are listening is a lot of times people
(41:27):
buy this book, even when they don't have kids. They
buy it, they donate it. They buy twenty copies, they
donate one to each classroom in their school, they donate
them to the local tutoring center. That that's something that's
the way people can really help to spread the information,
or they can bring a workshop to their area. Hey,
Alaska people, but anybody can spread the word and the movement.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
Now we've learned all about what you do, your literacy advocate,
how people can learn from you through your workshops and books.
Can you tell us maya pain Smart where people can
find you and the work that you do so they
can learn more on their own.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yes, I am online at mayasmart dot com, m a
y a smart dot com and you'll see a resources
page there every Monday there's something new. So it might
be a list of children's books about spring or a
list of or an activity that you can do, a
nature letter, scavenger hunt that you can do with your child.
(42:31):
So everything is literacy related. I read with me recipes.
Now we'll say all the recipes don't taste the best
because they're about spelling patterns and ingredients and words that
the kids can read. But it's a fun activity to
do with little one. So every Monday there's something new,
and that resources section the newsletter comes out every Sunday.
And you can see my different speaking topics at mayasmart
(42:54):
dot com slash speaking if you'd like to bring me
out for a workshop virtually or person. So that's that's
my my virtual home.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Thanks so much for listening to and watching mom entpreneurs.
As a reminder of brand new episode goes live each
week on Urban one podcast Network, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or
wherever you get your podcasts. Visit Urban onepodcast dot com
to learn more. That's Urban the number one podcast dot com.
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