Meet Ashley Zimmerman of The Math Lab

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Zimmerman.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My path of becoming an educator was a non-traditional one. As is common with many young adults, I didn’t find what I was looking for career-wise after spending four years in college and entering the “real world”. About two years after graduating from ASU in Business Management I gravitated towards working with kids and quickly found my way back to ASU to study education and obtain my teaching certification.

I completed an accelerated teaching program at ASU that allowed me to earn my teacher certification in about one year, and then I finished my M. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction during my first semester of teaching. From 2006 to 2020, I was a math teacher and math interventionist at four different middle schools, one high school, four districts, and two states. About five years ago, I co-created a math intervention and tutoring program at the high school I worked at in order to help students who were unable to graduate because they struggled in math.

This intervention model was very successful and has since been replicated by other high schools. We informally called the physical location on campus where the students went for math support “the math lab”. In 2020, I left the classroom for a new challenge and worked for a large corporate software company. The COVID climate brought challenges to my role at the software company, and both my math teaching ability and overall public school knowledge were in very high demand during the pandemic when kids were doing online school.

The extreme fulfillment of helping kids and parents with their math challenges led me to the idea of starting The Math Lab in early 2021. I moved into my space this past July and started helping my first students in August.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My business has been up and running in operation for about four months so far and I’ve learned more than I ever imagined about more than I ever imagined.

My biggest challenges have been finding the right solutions to best support the business operations and clients, juggling tutoring requests and clients’ schedules to make tutoring available, and streamlining a marketing plan – I want to help as many kids as I can and as a new business, many Scottsdale and surrounding community members simply aren’t aware that our services exist.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Math Lab is a math-specific tutoring center for supplemental math support, intervention, guidance, and educational consulting. We have a semi-private tutoring program model, and also offer private tutoring and test-prep services.

Student support is unique to the individual child and is provided based on a number of criteria: Grade level, confidence level, skill level, learning goals, skill strengths, learning style, learning preference, current school/teacher experience, disability accommodations, as well as other academic and health factors.

The Math Lab is a unique business model that truly creates a student and parent-centered mathematics learning experience with a highly experienced math leader who has “been there and done that” for many years. I’m most proud and grateful that I have the privilege of doing what I love, helping students learn and love math. I truly can’t wait until 3 pm, when my first students show up at the center.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I’ve always had a caring, gentle, and kind personality. I absolutely love animals, especially dogs. I have a dog named Joey. He’s way too friendly to bring to work with me, he distracts all the kids and wants to sit on everyone’s lap and make friends. I was always involved in sports growing up and still like to stay physically active.

I have a competitive determined demeanor and I probably learned organizational strategies early on when I wanted to keep track of my older siblings’ extra-curricular activities. My mom called me “the family secretary” growing up and family members still reach out to me to confirm relatives’ birthdays, addresses, and other important dates.

I was born and raised in Ohio and came to Arizona immediately after high school to go to college. I’m the first teacher in my family, so I also love educating my family about public school education matters.

Contact Info:

• Email: ashley@themathlabaz.com
• Website: themathlabaz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themathlabaz/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themathlabaz

Image Credits
EIC Agency