For over 70 years, Learning Ally has had the pleasure of welcoming volunteers to their mission and discovering what motivates them to donate their time and energy. Volunteers come to Learning Ally with a diverse set of experiences, skills, and reasons why they choose to make a difference in students’ lives. For Valerie Fenwick, a desire to learn, her generous heart, and a personal connection to the mission is what kept her volunteering for so many years. 

For most of her life, Valerie has been passionate about reading, literature, and acting. After spending several years doing community theater, her friends suggested she try industrials and voiceover work. In 2012, Valerie made the decision to join Learning Ally in the Palo Alto, California studio to practice voiceover. 

While Valerie initially joined Learning Ally because of a desire to learn, she discovered her reason for staying with the organization one year prior to doing voiceover work. In 2011, Valerie began losing sight in her right eye. For a while, her doctors were perplexed by the decline in her vision until a specialist determined Valerie had a rare autoimmune disease, Punctate Inner Choroidopathy. 

Using her background in technology and computer science—or as she likes to refer to it as her “nerd brain”—Valerie described her vision-loss as if she was losing pixels. The “pixels” were getting larger and larger, caused by inflammation on her retina that was nearing her central vision. Fortunately, Valerie regained most of her vision and is now in remission. Today, Valerie continues to use her ability to help others. She said: “Reading has been something I have done since I was so little and to be able to give back now, while I still have my vision, it’s such an honor for me to be able to do that.”

Valerie has given back to Learning Ally in countless ways. When working in the physical recording studios, Valerie willingly adapted to the technology and transitioned from studio to studio when needed. In 2017, when Learning Ally closed their studios, Valerie jumped on board to continue volunteering from home. Alexis Bourbeau, Director of the Literature Community and Audiobook Quality, described his experience working with Valerie: 

"Valerie is literally a perfect volunteer! The care and attention she gives her work is professional-grade, her communication with the staff and fellow volunteers is cheerful and consistent, and she's always living the LA value of self-improvement, eager to share and discuss ways to improve her process. Her work-ethic is also as heroic as the protagonists of many of her projects; she's our go-to narrator for those 600-page fantasy epics! Oh, and she’s a leading evangelist and fundraiser for the cause!”

This year, Valerie is closing in on donating 1,000 hours of service. She has narrated 38 books for Learning Ally, including Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Dork Diaries #1) with 282 pages and Winter: The Lunar Chronicles with 828 pages. 

In addition to volunteering, Valerie generously supports Learning Ally’s annual Building Books Campaign every year. Valerie uses her contagious energy to spread awareness and motivate volunteers to fundraise. She has even teamed up with her current and former employers to donate to the campaign through their matching gifts programs. By donating her time and energy, Valerie’s fundraising efforts have brought in $12,828 to Learning Ally.

Valerie’s unfailing dedication has made literacy accessible and equitable for thousands of students. Learning Ally is incredibly grateful for Valerie’s support and for the many other unwavering volunteers who work hard to improve the lives of students, parents and educators. 

How are you connected to Learning Ally’s mission? Niranjani Radhakrishnan, also known as Jani Rad, discovered a deep personal connection to Learning Ally ten years after being introduced to the organization. 

For Jani Rad, summers as a child were often spent at her mother’s work in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. While her mother was working, Rad would spend time in a small recording studio just around the corner from her office. A recording studio, you ask? Yes, young Rad was a volunteer narrator for the Learning Ally Oak Ridge recording studio, better known as Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFBD) at the time. Rad recalls days of racing to the studio, throwing on her headphones, and bringing her stories’ characters to life. Now, ten years later, Rad returns to Learning Ally and her mic with a new discovery about herself.

During high-school, Rad was an avid learner who performed well-academically. However, for as long as she could remember, Rad struggled with test taking. While taking a standardized test, Rad recalls being unable to comprehend the questions in front of her. Rad said: “It’s as if I was reading words in English but the words together in a sentence had no meaning to me.” The overwhelming stress associated with test-taking and the sounds of students scribbling on pages around her had Rad thinking: If I just read this five more times slowly, maybe I’ll understand the sentence. Unknowing the cause of her troubles, the problem persisted throughout college. 

It was not until after Rad graduated college that she found what was causing her reading difficulties. While working as a trainer at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rad was responsible for compiling health, wellness, and accessibility resources for students. Intrigued by what she was learning from the resources, Rad explained her personal challenges with reading comprehension to the Director of the Office Of Accessibility Resources. After asking a few questions and a couple tests later, the two discovered that Rad had dyslexia. 

Fast forward a few years later, Rad’s journey came full circle when she rediscovered Learning Ally by chance under its new name. Rad has since returned to volunteer, with a newfound discovery that ties her closer to Learning Ally than she ever imagined. 

Today, Rad is sharing her story with the world in hopes to empower others to share their own stories. Rad is a professional speaker, activist, storyteller, trainer, and facilitator of a variety of topics. She even has her own podcast, What’s On Your Mind? In the episode titled "DEF-IN-ET-LY," Rad discusses her experience with dyslexia, the interrelationship between learning differences and mental health, and her unique connection to Learning Ally. You can listen to the episode here. To learn more about Rad’s passion projects and to follow her journey, visit the Jani Rad website.