Read Nardagani: Learn to Read – Founder Bio

Full Bio

Narda grew up with a father who was a doctor in the military. As a young girl, Narda’s family was stationed in Japan for a few years. Upon graduating from the University of Washington, Narda returned to Japan, where she easily learned to read Japanese using the Hiragana system which uses symbols to help pronounce Japanese words (Kanji).

 Narda later returned to the United States, married, and had a daughter who was a challenged reader. In her search for a solution to help her daughter, Narda discovered that English is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn to read, even for native speakers (1 in 4 children grow up without learning to read).

 Narda created a system that profoundly simplifies learning how to read. She analyzed the English alphabet to understand why learning to read English is so challenging and discovered that many letters make multiple sounds. Remembering how easy it was for her to learn Japanese, she applied the Hiragana concept, creating 12 simple symbols to cue readers to the sounds these letters make in words.

Today, Narda lives in a small mountain town, Ketchum, Idaho, where she works as the CEO of the Nardagani Reading Program with her dedicated team. … In her spare time, Narda enjoys snowboarding and skiing, glass blowing, hiking, and she has written both a memoir and unique books included in the Nardagani program.

Notable Achievements

• TEDx Talk: Watch here

• Authored “Nardagani: A Memoir - Finding Light in the Shadow of a Brother's Disappearance” (2019)

Media Links

Interviews:

• A new way to learn to read in English and Spanish

• https://youtu.be/2pZwmwANtcY?feature=shared

• LinkedUp – A New Way to Teach People How to Read

• https://youtu.be/RkwR8ZA3lVM?feature=shared
  
  

Press features:

• 5b Gazette - Ketchum woman develops reading app based on her time in Japan

• Idaho Mountain Express - Ketchum entrepreneur aims to help struggling readers