Addressing the Youth Literacy Crisis with Olivia Martin Artwork

Shift Out Loud with Tracy Spears

Hosted by Tracy Spears, speaker, co-author of two best selling leadership books, founder of The Leader Lab, coach, and head cheerleader for anyone trying to play bigger. Shift Out Loud is a podcast designed to inspire you to play bigger. You'll hear from real live people sharing what their shift was, when it happened, and why it was out loud. What you think is true, and when you move from the external locus of control to the internal locus of control, your shift can happen and anything becomes possible. This podcast is your invitation to listen to others who have made the shift, and also serve as a catalyst for you to play bigger.

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Shift Out Loud with Tracy Spears

Addressing the Youth Literacy Crisis with Olivia Martin

June 13, 2023 • Tracy Spears / Olivia Martin • Season 2 • Episode 34

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You’d be surprised by the positive impact you can have on your community in just 45 minutes per week. If you want to learn how to make a huge difference in under an hour, you won’t want to miss this episode of Shift Out Loud!

I speak to Olivia Martin, who is championing students, teachers, parents, and volunteers in the meaningful work of literacy for children in Tulsa and the surrounding areas. As the Executive Director of Reading Partners of Tulsa, she works to provide students with the support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade, partnering with under-resourced schools and pairing kids with volunteer reading partners.

During our conversation, we dig into her experience in the Leadership Tulsa program,

how her daughter’s passion for the theatre led to an unexpected shift in Olivia’s career, and how she’s making an INCREDIBLE difference in her community.

Listen now to discover:

How to get more comfortable asking for money while in a fundraising role
Why we’re currently experiencing a crisis in youth literacy — and what needs to happen in order to fix it
How to play a role in the Reading Partners mission, in just 45 minutes per week

Guest bio: Olivia Martin is a devoted advocate for education and the Tulsa community who brings more than two decades of experience in teaching, school administration, development, and civic engagement to her role as the executive director or Reading Partners of Tulsa. She envisions a big, bold future for Reading Partners Tulsa and looks forward to nurturing data-driven growth and collaborative partnerships in the service of students’ literacy and a life-long love of learning.

Timestamps:

01:49 Intro

03:04 Meet Olivia Martin

05:25 Leadership Tulsa

09:06 YWCA, Tulsa Dream Center, Theatre Tulsa & Collegiate Hall

12:11 Performance, theatre & extroversion

15:47 Fundraising

17:58 Vital literacy statistics

22:09 Julia Louis-Dreyfuss & Toni Morrison

30:13 Reading Partners

35:58 May Fest, fundraising gala & Stacey Abrams

40:41 Getting involved & what’s next