Ready, Set, Read! Staff

 Merrily Weiss — Executive Director and Parent Educator
Merrily founded Ready, Set, Read! in 1999 to address the need for literacy training and resources for families with children enrolled in Los Angeles area preschools. Over the years, Merrily has taught read-aloud techniques to over 7,000 parents at workshops throughout Los Angeles county.

Susana Flores — Parent Educator
Dr. Flores is a fierce advocate for equity in education. A product of LAUSD, Dr. Flores attended Pasadena City College, California State University Los Angeles and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her varied experiences include teaching in: outdoor education, a bilingual urban middle school, adult ESL and Teacher Education Programs. Additionally, she has worked with Early Education Programs around the issues of emergent literacy and family literacy. She has two bilingual children who enjoy reading and discovering the word and the world with her.

Maria Elena Hernandez — Parent Educator
Maria Elena Hernandez — as an immigrant to the US, a product of the Los Angeles public school system, a graduate of LACC and UCLA, and a teacher in the LAUSD — has unique insight into the needs of our students. She has expertise in bilingual-bicultural ed. & ESL, literacy, cooperation/team-building, social justice, and ecology, working extensively with children and adults. Maria retired after 27 years with the LAUSD as a teacher and administrator. In her spare time, she volunteers at local elementary schools.

Elaine Sowell — Parent Educator
Los Angeles native Elaine Sowell was a bilingual teacher for LAUSD for 33 years, teaching School Readiness Language Development and Kindergarten in South Central Los Angeles schools. In 2008, she came out of retirement to use her experience as a teacher, mother and grandmother to make her Read-Aloud workshops engaging and informative for parents and teachers.