We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kay Limbach a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kay, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I came up with the idea for a children’s literacy nonprofit before the pandemic but waited to start the process until the pandemic started in 2020. I knew children were behind with reading before the pandemic started. I was tutoring a boy in 2nd grade in 2019 and found he was very behind with his reading skills. He was excellent with math but had trouble reading the math directions on his homework. I found out he suffered a panic attack during state testing at his school because he was struggling to read the questions. I knew there were other students like him who needed one-on-one help with reading. I felt as a educator I needed to try and help so I started the steps to becoming a literacy nonprofit. I knew there were tutoring centers throughout Cincinnati and was told I should piggyback on a business already making a difference. I had my own ideas and wanted my own business. My business pairs a Literacy Mentor with a child or several children to work together once a week in a school setting. A Literacy Mentor forms a relationship with the student, cheering them on as they become more proficient with reading. It is a win-win experience for both mentors and students.

Kay, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I knew from a young age I wanted to be a teacher. I loved children and wanted to spend my days teaching them in a classroom. I taught a few years while working on my Master’s Degree in Education. My husband and I moved several times early in our marriage and I would find a teaching job wherever we lived. Once I become a mom, I decided to stay home and enjoy this new role. I loved volunteering in my daughters’ classrooms. Once they got older, I decided I missed working with children so I became a preschool teacher. Following six years of teaching preschool I decided to start my own tutoring business. It is through tutoring I met the 2nd grader I mentioned earlier and he was the nudge I needed to start my own literacy nonprofit for children. We focus on students in pre-k through third grade because these are the years children learn to read. If children do not become proficient in reading during these early years of school, they will struggle with reading the rest of their school experience.

I am most proud of the quick success my nonprofit, Winn Reading, has experienced since we started in the fall of 2021. We are fortunate to have retired teachers, librarians, grandparents, and parents wanting to make a difference in the lives of children through helping them learn to read.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Starting a nonprofit can be a very long, lonely journey. I was fortunate to have mentor support from Score Cincinnati. I was matched with a gentleman who talked me through the steps, shared materials, and gave me a list of steps to follow in starting my nonprofit. If I started to doubt myself, or felt overwhelmed, Jim was a phone call away to work me through the doubts and frustration. I reached out to Jim again in December of 2022 because I still needed his guidance. He was so excited my nonprofit was successful and again he asked me what I needed, and helped me put together a list of what I needed and what to do to meet those needs. Jim told me to always reach out when I was feeling overwhelmed and needed help. I believe everyone starting a business needs a mentor, someone to help you stay focused on the end result.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think we have built a good reputation in the schools we assist because of our amazing Literacy Mentors. I always tell them they are the heart of Winn Reading. They are the ones doing the reading mentoring in the classrooms with students. The Literacy Mentors build the relationships with the students they help and the teachers. We sent surveys to the teachers we helped at the conclusion of the 22-23 school year asking for their feedback. The positive comments regarding the work and dedication of the Literacy Mentors was amazing. Many of the teachers requested the same Literacy Mentor for the 23-24 school year. We can’t ask for a better request from the teachers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.winnreading.org
• Instagram: @winnreading
• Facebook: facebook.com/winnreading

Image Credits
Kay’s Headshot Image Credit: Louise Erdeljohn Photography