We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephanie Tsapakis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephanie below.

Stephanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

It is relatively easy to find a tutor for your child, but this does not always mean you will find someone who is able to meet their specific needs and provide quality instruction.

At LD Expert, our teachers are not just tutors, they are specially trained and certified to meet the specific needs of students with learning differences. Our dyslexia intervention is only delivered by Certified Dyslexia Practitioners and Therapists – which ensures our programs are being delivered with fidelity and tailored to meet individual needs.

We often get families who have tried to work with various teachers and tutors in the past who only have a basic level of knowledge with Orton-Gillingham dyslexia intervention programs, and thus have not made much progress with the students. Because of the level of professional we hire, our parents feel like they have finally found the person who will help their child read or reach their academic potential in other subjects.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Stephanie is a certified classroom teacher, school principal, and dyslexia therapist. She is now the CEO & Founder of LD Expert – a virtual tutoring and dyslexia intervention company. LD Expert also provides comprehensive educational evaluations at an affordable rate.

At just seven years old, the only Christmas gift I asked for was a pointer so that I could play school. I knew even then that I wanted to be a teacher, and I vividly remember explaining math concepts to my stuffed animals in my kitchen classroom.

My first teaching position was in a private high school for students with learning differences. I taught American Sign Language as a foreign language elective, and also delivered dyslexia intervention services. This is when I realized my passion for working with students that have learning differences, and just how rewarding it could be to be the person who finally taught them to read.

Later in adulthood, I moved to San Antonio, Texas with my now husband. I was excited to be hired at another private school serving students with learning differences. I worked there for 8 years before deciding not to return to the classroom during the pandemic. I simply knew that the expectations being placed on teachers were unreasonable, and I did not want to lose my love for teaching to burn-out. I still needed to make a living however, so that is when The LD Expert was born.

I started my company with just a handful of students who planned to do virtual school, but wanted a teacher who could provide specialized instruction and support. We then grew to the point where I needed to add another teacher, and we divided up students by area of need – I took all the students needing Dyslexia intervention, and the other teacher took the other subjects. A few months later, my childhood best friend made the transition from Operations Manager of a large telepractice therapy company to partnering with me. She is a Speech and Language Pathologist and a fantastic business partner. We now have about 100 students nationwide and continue to grow. I find it extremely rewarding and fun.

Being in this market also gave me the motivation to write my own decodable reader series for children aged 4-6 who are just learning to read. Our schools are JUST starting to realize the research behind how children learn to read is very different from what we teach in our schools. Resources are needed to be able to implement research backed strategies in the classroom and at home to help children feel successful when learning to read and spell. I look forward to publishing my Right Start Readers series soon!

How’d you meet your business partner?

I am incredibly lucky to say that my business partner is also my best friend. We have known each other since the year 2000, and used to talk on the phone every morning on my way to work when I was a classroom teacher. We would often discuss the need for a company like our, but never found the catalyst we needed to start it ourselves… that is until COVID.

She encouraged me to start the company, and a few months later we had a lot of discussions about her coming on as a partner. We know that mixing friendship and business can sometimes cause problem, and we definitely did not want that. We were very honest about everything, and decided to go for it. Now she is my best friend and the co-owner of our company. I truly cannot imagine doing this without her! I can say without a doubt that our company would not be where it is today without her support and expertise.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I recently decided to write a book series called Right Start Readers. These books are meant for 4-6 year old children just learning to read. They are different from anything else on the market in that they are truly decodable and follow a scientifically based sequence for introducing phonics rules. When I was teaching my 5-year-old to read, I could not find ANYTHING that follow the science of reading, and knew I could make a much better product that allowed kids to be more successful and learn easier.

When I started writing these books, I had no idea how to be an author let alone find an illustrator or publish the series. I started with the writing, and then began interviewing illustrators. I ended up partnering with a friend of the co-owner of my company because she just seemed to get exactly what I wanted to create. She is a school counselor, so she is passionate about children, and she uses Art Therapy is a lot of her counseling – so she even understands the stress that learning to read can cause some children. She has been a fabulous resource and her illustrations are breathtaking.

I am in the final stages of compiling the books now, and plan to learn many new things when I use Amazon Kindle Publishing for the first time. I definitely do not let fear stop me when it comes to trying to new business ventures and creating a product or service that I know is truly needed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ldexpert.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ld_expert/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The.LD.Expert
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/right.start.readers/?hl=en https://www.rightstartreaders.com/