Meet Derek Lester | Business Owner and Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Derek Lester and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Derek, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind starting my own business grew out of a mix of lifelong influences and a desire to meet a genuine need. My parents were always hands-on and entrepreneurial in their own ways, fixing up our home and a rental property as well as staying engaged with the community. Watching them work hard at multiple businesses and volunteering instilled in me this idea that contributing to society means creating something valuable and useful.

Growing up, I was surrounded by conversations about business and entrepreneurship. My dad taught marketing at the local high school, and that made the idea of creating a product that people want to use, and truly benefit from, almost second nature to me.

After years in ministry then in higher education as a Professor of Educational Administration, I wanted to apply my knowledge to something of my own. I started a private tutoring company in Seattle and quickly realized parents were piecing together literacy materials from a bunch of different sources to teach their children to read. That’s when the light bulb went off: I could create a beautifully designed, comprehensive set of materials that did not just teach kids to read but did it in a way that reduced stress for parents and was grounded in the best research-based educational practices.

I started Brainstrong to blend my background in education with a love for creating something truly helpful and well-crafted. Sometimes the best businesses come from trying to solve a very real, everyday challenge with a bit of creativity and a lot of passion.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Growing up with dyslexia, I faced my own challenges learning to read. This personal struggle drove me to pursue a Ph.D. in Education, where I focused on the biology, psychology, and sociology of human learning. As an educator who has been working with children for over 3 decades, I now dedicate my career to building Brainstrong, a company that is committed to designing educational materials that help children learn to read intuitively and confidently.

I was a professor of education before transitioning to the private sector to start a Brainstrong as a tutoring company based in Seattle. It was stressful to go from the security of higher education to starting a business, but wanted to apply my knowledge set working with individual students, which was what I most enjoyed about being a professor. As I taught children to read during the pandemic, I discovered flashcards are the best way to teach a child to read. However, the ones available on the market were overloaded with information, poorly designed, and easily damaged. Teaching children to read can already feel overwhelming, and using ineffective materials only adds to that challenge. These frustrations inspired me to create a flashcards solution that is effective, high quality, and intuitive for both parents and children to use.

The greatest lesson I learned these past 10 years since founding Brainstrong is seeing that persistence completing tasks, one goal at a time, has paid off. Albeit slowly. The projects I worked on, from finding clients, to developing and manufacturing the flashcards, launching on Amazon, and now developing an app to digitize the cards, each happened slowly, one-step at a time. The team and I accomplish these goals because we focused on one task at a time.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
When friends and family come to visit, I like to mix the world class with local food and sights. This past summer, my mom, sister, and niece visited me in LA for a weekend. They flew in Friday and we toured the Griffith Observatory that evening. Saturday morning we had latte’s and scones at Priscilla’s in Toluca Lake, then toured the Huntington Library and gardens in Pasadena that afternoon. Dinner was a barbeque at the house, which was a nice break from the crowds and walking he did that day. Sunday was breakfast at Porto’s in Burbank and then a tour of the Getty Art Museum before they had to catch a plane home. When guests are in town I only plan two events. Given the talking and catching up, which takes hours out of a day, and driving in LA, any more than two events feels rushed.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have a lot of supportive and encouraging friends and family. However, my parents deserve special recognition for their contributions to who I am. My mom showed me the value of hard work, and that it is expected of me. A formative moment happened when I was 12. I was on my way out the door to my first job, yard work for a family friend. I do not know if these were the exact words my mom said, but it was something like, “You do good work now, you hear.” I still carry her admonition with me every day. It is an expectation I have of myself in everything I do. My dad has been supportive and encouraging of me and my interests. He is just a steady force of positive support in my life.

My parents also supported me educationally. I have dyslexia, and when I was in third grade the school wanted to put me into special education because of my lack of progress learning to read. However, my mother, also a teacher in the school district, spoke with the reading specialist in the school to unofficially pull me out of class several times a week to help me catch up on reading. My mom did whatever was need to help her children succeed. My dad read to me every night before bed and showed me the bonding that happens over books, and the new worlds we get to explore in them.

I doubt I would be as hard working, motivated, or adventurous as I am without the the influence of my parent.s

Website: https://www.brainstrong.org

Instagram: @brainstrongreading

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/drdereklester

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brainstrongreading

Image Credits
All images were shot by Brainstrong, LLC.