How TeeRead is Improving Literacy Through AI and Personalized Learning with Trini Bensusan Mille

Summary

Trini Bensusan Mille, founder of TeeRead, discusses her journey from being a teacher to starting her own edtech company focused on children's literacy. She shares her passion for providing economic freedom through education and her desire to make a real impact. Trini explains how TeeRead uses AI and speech recognition to assess and improve students' English skills. She also discusses the challenges of building a platform that is accessible and scalable, and the importance of mentorship and support from programs like Techstars and AWS. TeeRead is an AI-powered platform that helps students improve their English language skills. They use speech recommendation engines to provide accurate pronunciation feedback, especially for students for whom English is not their first language. TeeRead focuses on serving a diverse range of accents and languages, including Spanish. They work closely with teachers to address their concerns and provide them with tools to customize the platform. TeeRead's content is carefully curated to ensure it aligns with their values and educational goals. They prioritize exposing students to different cultures, STEM, and technology. TeeRead has found success in Latin America and plans to expand globally.

Takeaways

- Children's literacy is a crucial area that needs more focus and attention.
- TeeRead is an AI speech recognition tool designed to help children learn to read and improve their English skills.
- Building a scalable and accessible platform requires the support of programs like Techstars and AWS.
- Mentorship and guidance from experienced founders are invaluable in the startup journey. TeeRead uses speech recommendation engines to provide accurate pronunciation feedback for English language learners.
- They focus on serving students with diverse accents and languages, including Spanish.
- TeeRead works closely with teachers to address their concerns and provide customization options.
- Their content is curated to align with their values and educational goals, prioritizing exposure to different cultures, STEM, and technology.

Sound Bites

"Children's literacy is something that I think we need to focus on more."
"TeeRead is a AI speech recognition tool designed to help teach kids read English."
"We design everything for mobile first."
"A big part of what we do is deal with students for whom English is not the first language."
"How do you avoid product creep when you're trying to serve such a large community?"
"How do you get around teacher buy-in around speech tech being so new?"

Chapters

00:36 Introduction and Passion for Children's Literacy

04:45 T-Read: AI Speech Recognition for English Learning

08:12 Mobile-First Approach and Platform Design

11:36 The Impact of Techstars and Mentorship

15:33 Building a Scalable and Accessible Platform with AWS

21:39 Speech Recommendation Engines for English Language Learning

25:19 Teacher Buy-In and Overcoming Challenges

31:34 Curating Content to Align with Educational Goals

39:09 Navigating through Covid

40:58 Get in Touch with Trini

42:04 Importance of Networking

About Trini

Trini is the founder of TeeRead, where she uses AI and speech recognition to improve English education and make it more accessible. Her background includes being an award-winning strategist and product manager for global brands such as Amex, AB InBev, L’Oreal, and Danone.

Connect with Trini
LinkedIn: [@trini-bensusan-mille]
X: [@TriniBensu]