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Life and Work with Lindsey Gerdes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Gerdes.

Lindsey, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I love working full-time with students through my tutoring business. The 360 Scholar, but I took a fairly circuitous route to get here. I grew up in Atlanta and attended The Westminster Schools before venturing out to California and graduating from Stanford University with an undergraduate English degree with honors in 2003. I realized while in the honors program that I wasn’t cut out for working in academia like many of my peers so I decided to explore my twin passions of writing and learning about new topics by becoming a journalist.

After a Newsweek internship, I began freelancing for publications including Fortune Small Business where I published my first cover story. I still struggled to gain a foothold in this highly-competitive, rapidly changing industry so I accepted another internship at BusinessWeek in my mid-20s. This opportunity helped launch my own career, and it actually inspired me to develop an annual franchise for college students and young professionals launching their own careers as well. The feature called the “Best Places to Launch a Career,” became an annual BusinessWeek cover package of top internships and entry-level employers.

When BusinessWeek was sold to Bloomberg, I was contemplating my next move when, unfortunately, I was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer at age 30. After undergoing aggressive chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, I thought a lot about my life and path and decided to make a permanent career change to work with underserved students. After receiving my Master’s in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, I stayed in Philadelphia to teach first grade. Just a few weeks before the end of the school year, I got more devastating news. My cancer, thought to be cured four years prior, had actually metastasized to my bones, lung lining, and lymph nodes. As I underwent more treatments, unable to teach, I began working with students individually as a tutor. This felt like a natural fit.

Even while in the classroom, I’d always found my favorite parts of the day were working with my students individually during lunch or after school. I felt like this individualized instruction was my true calling and decided to start a tutoring company (The 360 Scholar) devoted to educating the whole student. I love collaborating with other educators, parents, and administrators involved in my students’ educations.

I became particularly passionate about working with students with learning differences including dyslexia, and I completed an intensive year-long certification program to teach students utilizing Orton-Gillingham strategies, a multisensory approach to teaching literacy for dyslexic and other diverse learners. Because of my duel degrees and certifications, I’m able to work with students in literacy and ELA from grades K-12, and this allows me to develop truly meaningful relationships with students and their families over long periods of time. I have a wonderful group of students and am so grateful to be doing the work that I am.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey has obviously been anything but smooth. As a woman living with metastatic breast cancer; which is Stage IV, incurable cancer; I appear perfectly healthy but live with my illness as a serious chronic condition that I actively manage. Because I have done so well since diagnosis, I am now trying to become an advocate for my community, which is very rewarding but challenging in itself.

Being able to run my own business doing something I love has been amazingly therapeutic and given me purpose and meaning. I think my advice to young women would be to use your own measuring stick to define success. Figure out what that looks like for YOU. As someone who experienced early career success in her 20s, followed by a number of devastating setbacks, I’ve learned—and am still learning—to truly appreciate the beauty in getting paid to do something I love.

Please tell us about The 360 Scholar.
I work with elementary students in early literacy but also work with older students on reading comprehension and written expression. I have an office in Buckhead where I see students from 3-9 PM on Monday-Thursday and weekends from 9-4. While my hours don’t follow a typical workday, I am truly a night owl so I love my strange work schedule (and it allows me to shop at Trader Joe’s in the mid-morning and still find a parking space!)

I’m by far most gratified by the progress I’ve seen with my students over time, knowing that I’m at least some small part of impacting their entire academic trajectory. Whether it’s helping a student learn to love reading or working with a parent who’s trying to obtain an individualized education plan at school, I find great happiness in helping my students on a path to achieve their greatest academic potential. I’ve always been fortunate to absorb large quantities of information quickly, so I am able to read or reread every book my students are reading simultaneously with them. I might be rereading Because of Winn-Dixie, The Giver, The Outsiders, and MacBeth all in the same week!

I also enjoy learning about new series my students are reading and utilizing this to unlock a broader love of the written word. For instance, one of my very first students only enjoyed the Wings of Fire dragon series. I read them right alongside him and helped ease him into enjoying other books. Three years later as an 8th grader, he has independently read (and enjoyed!) dozens of books including classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Alchemist, and The Hobbit, Newbery Honor books such as Echo, The Egyptian Games, and The One and Only Ivan, and series such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games along with many more!

I am similarly passionate about helping my early elementary students who are still struggling to learn how to read because I used to be one of them. Long before I became the ultimate bookworm, I was a frustrated five-year-old who flunked kindergarten because I didn’t even know my ABCs. A comprehensive evaluation revealed several learning differences with attention deficit disorder and visual-spatial reasoning, and my parents hired an absolutely wonderful tutor who unlocked the written word for me. She changed my entire academic trajectory, and I am forever grateful. Trying to have that same impact on other struggling young students gives me great joy and fulfillment.

I’m also proud of the fact that my strategy and approach with every single student is tailored specifically to his or her needs. While I employ certain proven strategies, my approach is still very much based on their individual learning styles and personalities. A recent visitor to my office commented on how confident and at ease my students appear, and I was so excited to hear this feedback. Because I am extremely enthusiastic about my students’ strengths, but also sympathetic to the challenges they experience because of their learning differences, my students feel supported and encouraged to do their best in the classroom.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
I’m part of an industry (education) that is particularly imbalanced. Over 75% of K-12 teachers are women, but over 75% of school-district superintendents are men. We actually need more positive male role models in our elementary schools (9 out of 10 elementary teachers are women) but more balanced leadership at the top of the profession.

Although our current Secretary of Education is a woman, she did not come from the classroom herself; I would also like to see more female teachers taking leadership roles within the profession because they have firsthand knowledge of the unique challenges facing our educational system today. Many passionate teachers prefer to be working directly with students though so that is an added difficulty in convincing talented educators to consider administrative roles.

More broadly, I think women supporting other women is extremely important in overcoming barriers to leadership. Many of my closest collaborators, colleagues, mentors and friends are strong, successful women, and I’m so grateful for their counsel, encouragement, and example. I belong to several networking groups for women, and I think joining or starting one of these groups can help build a wonderful community of women to turn to for support and advice.

Contact Info:

  • Address: 3867 Roswell Road NE
    Suite 301
    Atlanta, GA 30342
  • Website: the360scholar.com
  • Phone: 917-693-8045
  • Email: lindsey@the360scholar.com


Image Credit:
Heidi Harris

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