They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and in the pandemic, as families struggle to address the education gap for their kids, a group of moms got together to create an essential platform for parents and teachers to connect called The Learning Match. Julie Plake McMinn and her co-founders built The Learning. Match to connect families to trusted, qualified and experienced educators in their local community and virtually nationwide. Access to The Learning Match is always free for educators, and during the current beta testing is also free for families.

With more than 15 years of experience, Julie is an all-around marketing, branding, and PR pro. She is equally at home planning a major event, creating marketing strategies and

communications plans, or engaging top editors and producers. A move to New York City after she graduated from Penn State University, marked the start of her communications career: She began as a marketing and advertising assistant at Niche Media, a luxury-lifestyle magazine publisher. Working on Niche titles such as Gotham and Hamptons, Julie was thrown head first into the world of networking and relationship-building for the jet set. As a result of Julie’s own networking, entrepreneur and business owner Bethenny Frankel reached out when she needed an assistant. In 2008, she became Bethenny’s right hand—coordinator of chaos—handling everything from scheduling to marketing to product launches to the development of the Skinnygirl Brand.

Learn more about The Learning Match.