Team

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.

She lives in the Coronado District of Downtown Phoenix with her husband Andy, her son Cody and two dogs.

Contact Me!
Email: Sophie@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6022

Suzanne is an Arizona native who grew up in Mesa and her passion for nonprofits grew out of volunteering as a youth. Suzanne graduated from ASU in 2002 in Recreation Management with the particular emphasis and certification in nonprofit management from the American Humanics/Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. In 2002, Suzanne began an internship at Arizona Literacy & Learning Center (ALLC) and during the 15 years at ALLC, she held a variety of leadership roles in which she gained valued nonprofit management skills in operations, grant writing, fundraising, program evaluation, data collection and much more. Suzanne is excited about the results Read Better Be Better is achieving with students throughout the community and is pleased to be involved with an organization that feeds her passion to help kids master critical reading skills.

Suzanne’s passion to ensure Arizona children acquire the reading skills they need to become successful learners and find joy in reading is derived from her own personal struggles with reading as a young child and close family members who have struggled with dyslexia.

Suzanne lives in Mesa, Arizona with her husband Charles and son Ryan and a tortoise named Master Luke. Her hobbies include; photography, glass etching, and remodeling projects in her home.

Contact Me!
Email: Suzanne@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6028

Tammy Paz-Combs brings a wealth of experience in community development, community relations, and a commitment to bettering the lives of children. From 1999 to 2015, Tammy worked for the state of Arizona’s Governor’s Office for Children, Youth and Families, including serving as director of the agency. Most recently, Tammy served as a substitute teacher with the Washington Elementary School District and worked with grades 2-5 as well as teaching middle school Language Arts and English Language Learners.

Contact Me!
Tammy@readbetterbebetter.org
623-404-6026

Chelsea La Qua was born and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. She moved to Phoenix to attend college at The Art Institute of Phoenix, where she obtained her Bachelors in Media Arts and Animation. While her personal education did not lead to teaching, Chelsea’s administrative experience allowed her to be part of the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind, where she served as an Administrative Secretary for the Early Childhood Intervention team. Here she assisted in providing new parents with the tools needed to overcome the challenges of their child’s hearing and/or vision impairments. It was after seeing just how vital these services were to these families that she knew she wanted to be part of an organization that would make a change for the better in her community. She now works as the Executive Assistant at Read Better Be Better, where she is thrilled to be a part of the amazing work that Read Better Be Better does to help Arizonan children become confident readers and more accomplished students. As an avid reader herself, she values the positive impact a love of reading has on the enjoyment of learning and development of skills to be successful in life.

Chelsea lives in Phoenix with her husband John and son Michael. She also has 2 dogs, Moses and Max, and a cat, Mushi. She spends her free time working on artwork, learning new crafts, home improvement projects, or spending time outdoors hiking, fishing and camping.

Contact Me!
Email: Chelsea@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6020

Billie comes from an eclectic background of public service, marketing, publishing, communications, and education. She first became aware of Read Better Be Better while working at the Arizona Department of Education, instantly recognizing the organization’s unique youth leadership and commitment to excellence and kindness. When a position to use her talents for RBBB opened on the team, Billie immediately applied and was honored to accept the Marketing Communications Coordinator position, along with leading a program site, in Spring 2019.

Billie attempts to achieve every goal through kindness and giving it 200%.

Contact Me!
Email: Billie@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6030

Originally from Minnesota, Shelby received her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from the University of St. Thomas and her MBA in Finance from Concordia University. She, her husband, and two fur babies moved to Arizona in 2016 and she initially worked for the Boys & Girls Club, which strengthened her passion to work with children. In her free time, Shelby enjoys hiking and the great outdoors.

Contact Me!
Shelby@readbetterbebetter.org
623-404-6033

Molly has worked at the Glendale Public Library, as a substitute teacher and, most recently, as a library clerk at Whittier Elementary School. A graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Art History, Molly is the mom of a 6-year-old daughter who is an avid reader. Molly enjoys cooking, reading, watching movies that no one has heard of, and hitting up thrift stores

Contact Me!
Molly@readbetterbebetter.org
623-404-6035

Alex graduated from ASU in 2014 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Justice Studies, with a certificate in Human Rights. She has a background in social work and has worked with youth since she was 16. Her family consists of her husband Ben, dog Milo and son River. She loves RBBB because of the passionate team she works with and the incredible improvement she sees the students make. She loves empowering others and coming up with creative solutions to problems. Her hobbies are reading, hiking, camping and spending time with family.

What is the last book that you read? What did you like about it?
I recently started reading the Harry Potter series again. I find that it brings me a lot of comfort in times of transition in my life.

What keeps you motivated?
My family and my friends. Also, seeing kids be successful and start to enjoy learning!

If you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be?
I would love to be better at math and all things technical/mechanical.

Contact Me!
Email: Alex@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6045

Alexa Clark is the District Leader for Littleton School District.

In addition to working with Read Better Be Better, she is also on her fourth year of study at Grand Canyon University as an Elementary Education major. Alexa has always had a passion both for reading and working with kids, so being able to combine the two by working with RBBB has been an absolute blessing for her.

While she now calls Arizona home, she is originally from southern California with relatives scattered all over the United States and across the globe in South Africa. Previously, she worked as Office Coordinator at an overnight camp in New York as well as a Site Leader in both the Phoenix District and Boys and Girls Club of Metro Phoenix.

As a new District Leader, her goal is to motivate and support her team in every way possible while also facilitating a love for reading among each group of students. She found herself fortunate enough to enjoy the process from a young age and has been avidly reading ever since. Her favorite genre to read is historical fiction. Her favorite book at the moment is Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

Contact Me!
Email: Alexa@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6041

Contact Me!
Andrea@readbetterbebetter.org
623-404-6037

Camille was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated from the University of Arizona’s College of Education with a degree in Literacy, Learning, and Leadership with an emphasis on community education. While at the University of Arizona she was a volunteer at the after-school program Higher Ground in South Tucson. Camille pride’s herself on being an advocate for equal education. She enjoys hiking, spending time with family and friends, and of course, loves to read.

Contact Me!
Email: Camille@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6047

Lisa joined Read Better Be Better in October 2018 as a Site Leader and became an intern to expand her knowledge of the organization.  Her intern duties included: grant coordinator and grant team lead, graduation prep and kit re-builds, and organizing RBBB’s materials and inventory.

Lisa was born in San Jose, California, and moved to Phoenix in 1991.  Her earliest memories of reading were the Charlie Brown ‘Cyclopedia Set and the Berenstain Bears.  At her grandparent’s house, she would read the older books that were laying around, such as Amelia Bedelia and Danny the Dinosaur.  Lisa remembers fondly when her 3^rd-grade teacher read out loud Judy Blume’s Superfudge and getting her Sideways Stories from Wayside School book signed by author Louis Sachar.  With these memories, Lisa hopes to continue passing on her love of reading and creating more memories reading with the kids in Read Better Be Better.

Contact Me!
Email: Lisa@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6054

Payton Augustino joined Read Better Be Better at the beginning of 2017 as a Site Leader in Avondale and became a District Lead in August of 2017. She graduated from Grand Canyon University in December of 2017 with a degree in English for Secondary Education with her teaching and TESOL certifications.

Since graduation, Payton continues to work at RBBB because of her passion to inspire students through education. Since moving to Arizona in 2014, Arizona students and the Read Better Be Better program have become Payton’s main focus. She earned the Out-of-School-Time Award of Excellence seal from the Arizona Center for After-school Excellence in 2018 and continues to work to give opportunities to under-resourced students in Arizona through being a District Leader with RBBB. She has worked with and managed Washington School District as well as Osborn, Phoenix, Tolleson, Union School Districts, as well as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix.

Payton is from Eugene, Oregon, and lived in Indiana, California, before settling in Phoenix, Arizona, after attending school there. She married in 2018. When she is not working for RBBB she is probably traveling, at the beach, or at Disneyland with friends. Family is hugely important to her which is one reason she wants to support students in Arizona and beyond to be able to earn an education so they can support families of their own!

Contact Me!
Email: Payton@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6024

Contact Me!
Email: Renae@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6055

Tobe Okeke was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Arizona between Tucson and Peoria. She studied marketing and philosophy at Northern Arizona University, after which she proceeded to study social entrepreneurship at The Watson Institute. She believes in a better tomorrow, and that organizations like Read Better Be Better are the key to creating that future. She is excited to be doing her part to help achieve the mission and vision of Read Better Be Better.

In her free time, Tobe enjoys woodworking, rock climbing, and finger painting. She is an ardent reader and finds joy in elevating the simple moments.

Contact Me!
Email: Tobe@readbetterbebetter.org
Direct: 623-404-6057