I am an educator passionate about the importance of early literacy. As the Program Specialist for Early Literacy at Wake County Smart Start, I promote early literacy parent engagement and practices by providing activities, education, resource materials, and access to books for families with children birth-5. I am co-chair of the WAKE Up and Read School Readiness Committee and facilitate the Early Literacy and Outreach Community of Practice. This work provides opportunities to collaborate with local business leaders, nonprofit agencies, schools, libraries, as well as Smart Start agencies across the state promoting the importance of early literacy and providing literacy resources to families with young children.