What We Do
Read To Me International promotes reading aloud to children through:
- Parent coaching programs at Hawai‘i’s schools, community sites, and correctional facilities
- Presentations and workshops for parents, educators and other interested groups
- Read alouds at schools and community gatherings
- National-quality annual conferences
- Support for parents of young children living in transitional and affordable housing
Our Mission
Share the love and joy of reading aloud.
Goals
- Ensure that every child is read to every day for at least 10 minutes.
- Model good read aloud techniques.
- Promote reading aloud to a broader audience of stakeholders.
Founder
President
Lynne Waihee
As a youngster, Lynne Waihee found magic in her otherwise mundane life through the world of princesses and princes, fairy tales and fables. In real life, Read To Me International President Lynne Waihee has led a charmed life as a former First Lady of Hawai‘i, during which time she served as the Honorary Chair for the Governor’s Council for Literacy. A former high school English teacher, literacy was a perfect fit for her role as First Lady, and Waihee has now championed childhood literacy’s cause for over 23 years. She recalls with fondness reading in bed to her own children, John IV and Jennifer, and anxiously awaits the day she has grandchildren to whom she can read. Meanwhile, she finds great joy in reading aloud to anyone’s children, and to adults as well . . . including husband John.
Staff
Executive Director
Dannah Barnes
Dannah Barnes is a 2018 MBA graduate from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business and has over a decade of experience working in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. As a child, Dannah was read to by her parents and would often visit the library with her aunty. Her aunty would also create fun reading activities like writing and submitting book reports. Dannah credits her career success to her family and appreciates how they shared the joy of reading at an early age. She is excited to join the Read To Me International team and pay it forward by sharing the joy of reading aloud.
Program and Community Outreach Director
Nicki Brown
Nicki Brown has a long standing career in the non-profit sector servicing the Waiʻanae community in various capacities. Community programs that focused on early childhood education held great significance on her journey as a new mother. It led her to experience the power of Read To Me International’s RTM10 program firsthand as a participant. Seeing the excitement on her child’s face after implementing the different techniques taught by Read To Me International was transformative for their relationship with books and with one another. Reading has always been a passion of Brown’s growing up with Laotian as her first language. It helped her to learn and love the English language. In her current role with Read To Me International, her hopes are to spread that same love for literacy to everyone in the state of Hawaiʻi by reading aloud. She believes that reading is great, but getting people to engage in reading aloud together is when the love strengthens.
Program and Community Impact Director
Kayla Masuda
Kayla Masuda is excited to bring her teaching background, administrative experience, and love of service to her position at Read To Me International Foundation. She earned her M.Ed from Hawaii Pacific University and worked in education for a decade before switching to nonprofit work. She credits her lifelong love of books to taking frequent childhood trips to the public library, a place she still considers magical. Growing up, Kayla would often get in trouble for reading during class or long past her bedtime; as an adult who still reads late into the night, she hopes to help children and parents alike discover the joy of reading.
Program and Site Manager
Lauren Remular
Growing up, Lauren was able to discover her passion for music, singing, reading and writing. Raised in Waipahū and a graduate of Sacred Hearts Academy, Lauren had the importance of education instilled in her at a very young age. She is currently a senior at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa majoring in Human Development and Family Studies, where she is embarking on her journey to prepare herself for a career that will always encourage growth, embracing your passions, and being able to help those in her community. She has always had a positive and loving relationship with reading because it was something that her parents did with her everyday. Some of her favorite memories of her childhood include going to the library every chance she had and finding new books whenever the Scholastic Book Fair came around during the school year. She is excited to be interning with Read To Me International, where she hopes to connect with her community while finding some new favorite books to add to her library that she can read to her nieces, nephews and keiki in the future.
Program and Site Manager
Miranda Shelly
Miranda was born and raised in Hawaiʻi and attended college in Washington at the University of Puget Sound. After graduating, Miranda spent a year abroad in Japan working as an assistant English language teacher before returning home to pursue her studies in social work at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her childhood love of books was fostered by her family and she spent many hours as a child listening to fantasy stories read to her by her older sister, Emma. She is enthusiastic about joining Read To Me International and putting her experiences to good use by promoting the joy of reading aloud.