This teacher-turned-entrepreneur started tutoring children in parks and churches. Today, she runs an education business with nearly a million subscribers

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Beth Gaskill is CEO and founder of education company Big City Readers. The former teacher has become a digital marketing powerhouse with nearly a million social media followers. She sat down with Jessica Abo to talk about her business, her plans for the future, and her advice to anyone looking to take a career leap but afraid to do so.

Jessica Abo: Beth, before we get to your current business, let's go back to the beginning. Tell us about your days in elementary school.

Beth Gaskill:

When I was in elementary school, I hated school. I hated reading, which made me hate everything. I was not good at reading, and I even saw a reading specialist. And that's when I started to be afraid to go to school. I felt ashamed and embarrassed as a seven year old. I knew other kids were better than me at reading, and I was so embarrassed. It didn't feel like a safe space where I could just be curious and learn more. It was like the worst thing in the world. I didn't want to go to school and I cried about it every day. So I went to school to be a teacher, and I continued to study literacy, and that's when I started to realize that the way teachers teach children to read is so wrong, and I have to change this. I can't let other seven-year-olds feel the same way I did when I was in school.

So what did you do next?

Gaskill:

I'm almost 20, I'm teaching and I don't have a plan, but I quit my job. I was tutoring kids, and then I decided to do these parties in the parks to try and get more people to tutor. So I did these free story hours in the parks, and I thought maybe that wasn't the way to meet people for me to say, "I'm a tutor." Maybe there is something here. So I started going to church basements and parks and wherever I could have a reading night. I called them reading nights, where I could read to the kids and start sharing tips with the parents. Bars, I even read on stage in Lollapalooza and toured other cities across the United States.

But then I realize there must be something different. There must be something I'm missing because so many kids shouldn't need a reading tutor. So I analyzed my notes. I taught 12 hours a day and came home to my bed, ate a handful of Skittles and felt like I was looking at my grades from different students. And I realized that the same problem occurs again and again. And this tutoring is a bandage, but there is a solution, and it is preventive.

What was your vision of what teaching reading should look like?

Gaskill:

So my take on what teaching reading should look like is really fun. It is not necessary that he remain seated. He doesn't have to be silent. It doesn't need to be serious. We should always have fun. So my vision changed a bit and moved away from teaching children to read and more towards working with parents. So I started giving parenting classes for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers before they were even about to read.

So I wrote this preschool curriculum for babies and toddlers that was the foundation of language and reading skills that parents could know. They could come and make a friend. We call it big city best friends. They could have a place where they wouldn't be so alone. They might know that they are giving their child all the resources he needs. They might feel like someone is supporting them. It is more than a product. It has become a community. And that's when I realized your community matters way more than your product ever will.

You then created Big City Readers. Who is it for and how does the business work?

Gaskill:

I wanted to build a place where parents could come and make their best friends from the big city. Children could feel connected with their teachers and befriend their peers. And so I built Big City Readers out of this disgusting 3,000 square foot gym in Chicago, and it became this magical place where everyone wanted to come and learn to read. Then, of course, the pandemic hit, and I didn't know what to do. So I went back to my roots. Why did I start this business? I wanted people to feel a connection and a belonging. I wanted the reading to be fun and like a party.

So I went on social media every day for the first two months of the pandemic, every...