Welcome to Love Literacy – Inspired, the podcast where real stories spark real change.
Hosted by Heather Down, founder of Love Literacy Mount Maunganui and Love Literacy Limited, each episode dives into the personal journeys of educators, parents, advocates, and learners across Aotearoa New Zealand.
We explore how literacy has shaped their lives, and how many found their way within Literacy through curiosity, challenge, and heart. From the classroom to the kitchen table, these are the voices shaping the future of reading and writing in New Zealand and beyond.
✨ Real stories, real growth; one literacy journey at a time.
Episode 6: Rupert Denton’s Literacy Journey.
From Teacher to EdTech Trailblazer: Rupert Denton on Spellcaster, Struggling Readers, and Literacy Equity. In this inspiring episode of Love Literacy – Inspired, I sit down with Rupert Denton, a former high-needs teacher and founder of the structured literacy platform, Spellcaster.
Rupert shares his powerful journey from rural classrooms and specialist schools in Australia to building a literacy tool designed specifically for older learners who need another chance to catch up.
Episode 5: Dr Eunice Fuchs’ Literacy Journey
In this inspiring episode of Love Literacy – Inspired, I sit down with Dr Eunice Fuchs, a former nurse practitioner turned literacy interventionist, to explore her extraordinary journey from Puerto Rico to New Zealand, from critical care wards to the heart of the classroom.
When her daughter showed early signs of dyslexia, Eunice left her nursing career to train in structured literacy and remediate her children’s reading. That decision opened the door to a new life’s work in tutoring, advocacy, and supporting schools to understand neurodiversity.
Episode 4: Ali Fullick’s Literacy Journey
From Hairdresser to Decodable Book Creator. In this episode, I chat with the wonderful Ali Fullick, founder of Innerlinks and creator of a unique decodable book set to support structured literacy through rich visuals and movie-style storytelling. Ali’s journey is one of courage, creativity, and determination.
Starting out as a hairdresser in the UK, she found herself on a completely different path after her son began struggling at school. That path led her into the classroom, through Speld training, and eventually into the world of writing her own decodable texts now used in New Zealand, Australia, and across the U.S.
Episode 3: My Writing Journey – Navigating the Write Way
In this special solo episode of Love Literacy Inspired, host Heather Down flips the script and shares her own journey into the world of writing instruction. Heather opens up about the moment she realised that, while she was confidently teaching reading and spelling, writing needed more depth and intention in her practice.
She takes listeners through the frameworks that transformed her approach, including the Simple View of Writing, Joan Sedita’s Writing Rope, and the Writing Revolution, and reflects on what it means to explicitly teach writing at every level.
Episode 2 – Nicky Collins: From hairdresser to passionate Teacher and dyslexia advocate.
From hairdressing to helping transform literacy instruction across 34 schools, Nicky Collins’ journey is anything but ordinary. In this powerful conversation, Nicky shares how a career setback led to a remarkable shift into education and eventually to becoming a Resource Teacher of Literacy (RTLit).
We dive deep into: Her inspiring entry into teaching at age 40 What sparked her shift from balanced literacy to structured literacy, her work leading the Whanganui Literacy Project, Her advocacy for dyslexia awareness and equity and what teachers really need to know about the science of reading and the science of learning.
Welcome to the very first episode of Love Literacy – Inspired.
This week I chat to Marianne Brown, from Marianne Brown Literacy. From ESL teacher to Ministry-approved PLD presenter, Marianne Brown’s literacy journey is one of transformation, passion, and purpose. 💙 In this heartfelt conversation, Marianne shares the moment she realised Structured Literacy was the key — and how it changed everything for her learners, her teaching, and her future.