The Awards Honor Individuals and organizations that have made tremendous contributions to young people and the mentoring field.
MCLEAN, VA, UNITED STATES, January 21, 2021. In a lead-up to MENTOR’s 2021 National Mentoring Summit, MENTOR, the unifying champion for quality youth mentoring in the United States, identified Nina Zolt, co-founder and Chief Content Officer of Cricket Media, Inc. as a finalist in the Lifetime Achievement category.
The awards are presented annually to individuals and organizations that have made tremendous contributions to young people and the mentoring field. The Lifetime Achievement category honors individuals who have dedicated their life’s work to supporting youth through mentoring programs.
Nina Zolt’s diverse career has spanned more than 30 years as a media executive, digital product designer, entertainment lawyer, and social entrepreneur working at the intersection of education, mentoring, and technology. Prior to co-founding Cricket, Zolt founded and served as Chief Learning Officer of In2Books, a 501(c)(3) organization where she led development of a research-tested Literacy Mentoring program that has received numerous awards, including the CODIE Award for Best Reading/English Instructional Solution.
A pioneer in the eMentoring field, Zolt led the evolution of In2Books into the first online eMentoring program with embedded safety and security for children under age twelve, CricketTogether. Her contributions were recognized in MENTOR’S eMentoring Supplement to the Effective Elements of Practice, and her programs have impacted tens of thousands of children in low income communities throughout the years.
Zolt served as a member of the Washington D.C. Advisory Board of Directors for Teach for America, the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Advisory Board of the International Literacy Association.
“Nina is CricketTogether’s guiding light and she richly deserves this honor,” said Laura Woodside, SVP of Educational Products, Cricket, “she has dedicated decades to tirelessly promoting education equity on a global scale and MENTOR‘s recognition represents the positive impact she’s made on the field.”
About CricketTogether
CricketTogether provides a convenient, rewarding, and impactful approach to eMentoring: connecting mentors and students virtually across the U.S. in order to overcome geographic and socio-economic barriers. Matched pairs engage within a safe, structured and rich curriculum-based correspondence model that provides Grade 3–8 students in underserved communities with one-to-one ongoing academic and social-emotional support, giving each child the benefit of their own personal champion to help each child to discover and achieve their full potential.
About Cricket Media, Inc.
Cricket®, a mission-based global education company known for creating high quality print and multi-media products that expand learning opportunities for everyone. Led by its 9 award-winning publications for children and customizable research-tested collaborative learning/eMentoring/tutoring platforms, the company is committed to making, building, and supporting innovative learning experiences with high-quality age-appropriate content.
