Maile Broccoli-Hickey

Interview with Maile Broccoli-Hickey, Founder and Executive Director of English at Work

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Maile Broccoli-Hickey left her job as a waitress when a nearby English-language school moved away from her restaurant’s neighborhood and she saw her fellow employees lose their source of English instruction. Being a volunteer English as a Second Language instructor, she decided to start teaching English at the restaurant. That grew into English at Work, now in  hotels and restaurants and factories throughout Austin, Texas.

Maile applied twice for an Echoing Green Fellowship – she was rejected the first time, but suggestions for improvement from the judges enabled her to earn the award on the second try. The Fellowship has enabled her to expand English at Work across the city of Austin.

English at Work conducts English classes for immigrants at their workplaces. Employers and employees both love it for the convenience it offers and the valuable new skills it confers.

Her students are immigrants, 80% from Latin America, and others from Myanmar, West Africa and Eastern Europe. Her students’ average age is 35. They work hard to learn English, as it is their  path to success in America. Their employers love English at Work because it increases the value of their employees at no cost.

Her advice to entrepreneurs: “If you have a crazy idea to help people, pursue it no matter what others tell you. Chances are you are right!”

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