Read Better Be Better with CEO and Founder Sophie Etchart and Paracore President Adam Arkfeld E12
Read Better Be Better is an after school literacy program designed to be highly effective and evidence informed. Their mission is to help children improve literacy skills to become better learners.
They create change by helping children master reading comprehension in three ways:
- Improving concentration
- Encouraging an active enjoyment of reading
- Helping develop a deeper understanding of what is being read
They support basic classroom instruction with additional comprehension strategies to improve proficiency and positively impact future academic success. 
RBBB uses trained 8th grade volunteers to implement a simple, but highly structured after-school program for 3rd graders. The older students work one-on- one with the younger students, modeling and fostering active engagement with a variety of texts. The program also includes constructive play activities specifically chosen for their ability to focus attention and improve concentration.
Sophie Etchart was born in Connecticut, but raised and educated in England. She studied Spanish, French and German at the University of Newcastle-Upon- Tyne. As part of her degree, Sophie spent her third year of University living and working in Belgium and Spain.
Upon graduation, Sophie joined a financial services agency specializing in board-level strategic HR consulting. In 2009 Sophie designed and executed the Private Equity Foundation / Deutsche Bank Leadership Program: a series of instructional workshops and networking events in partnership with INSEAD business school, France. After spending a year on loan to the Private Equity Foundation as a strategic HR consultant, Sophie committed to a full transition into the non-profit sector.
Sophie moved to Peru in 2010 to run the education program at SKIP, an international development organization in northern Peru. For 2 years she managed a team of 25 staff and volunteers working with 330 young people aged 3-17. The key component of the program was a comprehension curriculum designed to complement the national public schooling system. This program received a commendation during a site visit by professional contacts at the Bill Gates foundation.
Sophie met her husband, an Arizona native, in Peru and moved to Phoenix in 2012. She spent 2 years managing the JA BizTown® team at Junior Achievement. Upon her departure, each member of her team had delivered “outstanding” performance according to standardized quantitative KPI assessments.
Sophie had identified the need for basic reading comprehension support during her 2 years at Junior Achievement. The JA BizTown® program serves over 20,000 students per year; an alarming number of whom had neither the focus nor the foundational skills to obtain the most value from the experience. When the “Move On When Reading” law was announced, she decided that the timing was critical to support those 3rd graders at risk of being kept behind. Read Better Be Better is based on the proven SKIP model and adapted to the current environment.
In 2017, Sophie was recognized as one of Phoenix Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 younger business leaders making an impact in the Phoenix area.
Connect with Sophie on LinkedIn, and follow RBBB on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
ParaCore is a pay per click lead generation agency helping high-growth businesses scale using paid media. By harnessing the power of Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, and other social and search marketing platforms, we create a consistent ow of qualified leads at the lowest cost for growing companies. We measure metrics at every step to ensure our clients can easily measure ROI on their marketing.
Adam Arkfeld owns one of the few pay-per-click specialized agencies in Arizona. ParaCore was founded in 2009, but niched its focus to PPC in 2016. Since then, the agency has grown to manage over $3 million in ad spend with a roster of clients ranging from home service companies to online retailers.
Adam serves on the board of Entrepreneurs’ Organization and is President of Arizona’s EO Accelerator program, an organization to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses to a million dollars and beyond.
Connect with Adam on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
About 3C Amplified
3C Amplified is a space to highlight businesses, nonprofit organizations and individuals collaborating to amplify their impact in the community. We share real world examples for how partnerships allow for growth both within our businesses and our communities. Listen in as we share how others are connecting, creating and collaborating and how you can be part of something greater.
About Jacqueline Destremps
Jacqueline Destremps is a creative marketing strategist and founded Another Hand Advantage, LLC in 2014 to help community minded small business owners and nonprofit professionals move forward more confidently with their marketing strategy. After graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in Psychology, she has spent her professional career working in both the nonprofit and for-profit sector.
She now enjoys being self-employed and the flexibility it provides to allow more time to volunteer, serve on nonprofit boards, choose pro-bono projects, run 100+ Women Who Care Valley of the Sun (which she co-founded in 2014) and travel the world. Jacqueline believes in creating connections between businesses and nonprofits in the community to stimulate growth and collaboration.
