Today we’d like to introduce you to Faith Rodgers.
Faith, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Phonetic Beats was inspired by my three-year-old son, Steven. Steven is severely speech delayed and because of that, it is really hard for him to meet some communication and academic milestones. One thing I know for sure is Steven loves music. He has grown up in the church and has been around music all of his life since I am an elementary music teacher.
In 2017, I made a rap song for the letter A just to see if my son would learn from it, and it went viral. A lot of parents said they played it for their kids and they loved it! I knew then this was something I needed to do. However, at that time I had a lot of things going on and I couldn’t fully commit to it. The idea came back to me towards the end of 2018 when Steven started a new speech program. During the program, Steven’s speech-language pathologist said Steven’s behavior was…less than ideal. She said he was very easily distracted, couldn’t sit still, and it was going to hinder his progress. I then took it upon myself to create lessons at home that incorporated his work from speech with music and movement activities. I began making little chants and raps to go along with his miniature lessons at home…and it was working! He was starting to get good reports from his speech-language pathologist and he was showing improvement. It was at that point I decided to transform everything I was doing, into a business to help other parents. From there, Phonetic Beats was born.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely not been an easy road. At the beginning of 2018, I went through a divorce. I knew I wanted to make music for Steven and potentially other toddlers, but I was emotionally drained. My parents have been married for 28 years; I could not imagine raising a child by myself. Not only was I emotionally drained, I was physically drained as well. Being a teacher is extremely draining as it is, and now I had to finish out the school year as a single parent. Amongst all of these things, Steven’s in-home speech-language pathologist informed me when Steven turned 3, by law he had to go through a school district for speech services. That meant Steven would have to get adjusted to a new speech-language pathologist when he just got used to the one he had. It was one of the worst times of my life. The divorce was finalized on the first day I had to return to work from summer break. With the help of prayer, my friends, and my family, I was able to pull myself up by the bootstraps. Steven started his new speech program in October of 2018 and I officially started producing tracks for Phonetic Beats in December 2018.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Phonetic Beats – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Technically, my business is Faith Rodgers, LLC. Through my brand, I am a parent consultant. What that means is, I specialize in teaching working parents how to teach their children at home even with their busy work schedules. A lot of educational materials out right now cater to stay at home moms or moms that have a lot of time with their children. As a newly single mom who works 50+ hours a week, there was no way I could fit some of these programs and activities into my schedule. I didn’t have the time or energy. On the rare occasion, I did have time and energy, I ran into a huge problem. Steven was NOT cooperating. Every lesson involved tantrums and defiance. He simply just did not like it. I found out what I thought was “fun” was not necessarily “fun” in his eyes. I changed my way of thinking from “you need to do what I want you to do without any problems” to “what exactly is it that you actually want to do.”
I started incorporating more of the tv shows and characters he liked into the daily 10-15 minute lessons. I also started incorporating songs into the routines that were already established. For example, while Steven brushed his teeth, for two weeks I would play some type of educational song. By the end of the two weeks, Steven knew the content of the song with no problem! After he was successful with the concept in the song, I would move to another song. This process is precisely what I do for other parents. I take a look at their schedule and the likes and dislikes of their child and I come up with customized lessons for them.
Phonetic Beats is under Faith Rodgers, LLC. While I was in the process of finding educational songs for Steven’s lessons, I realized none of them were culturally relevant. I don’t know about you, but I know I listen to multiple genres of music a day. Why is it that there is only one genre of children’s music? We automatically expected kids to vibe to this genre even though we don’t like it ourselves. The few songs that Steven did actually like drove me crazy. I thought to myself, “there has to be a way for him to learn without me wanting to scream.” I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I made it. I have always made educational lyrics to songs for my students, but I have never produced the tracks for the lyrics. There is a first time for everything! Before I knew it, I strategically produced 14 tracks all by myself. From there I made the lyrics and released the album.
My consulting business isn’t as well known because for the past six months, I have been slaving over Phonetic Beats. At this point, I am definitely most well known for Phonetic Beats. It has been less than one week since the album dropped and Phonetic Beats has over 1,000 streams between iTunes and Spotify! The album is available on all music platforms, but currently I am only able to check streaming numbers from Spotify and iTunes. More importantly than the streams, I have had so many parents tell me that their kids love it! Let me tell you, getting children’s approval is difficult! I am beyond overwhelmed by all the positive responses the album has received.
Above all of these things, I am most proud of the progress my son has made. Between his speech-language pathologist, Phonetic Beats, and our daily lessons, Steven went from basically a 0% mastery in his speech class to 50% mastery in just eight months! Music is one of the most underutilized tools out there yet it is the most powerful. Steven even had a feature on “The Letter J Rap” saying “I love you Mama J” (who is my mother). This is a huge accomplishment considering he was completely non-verbal at the beginning of last year.
I believe what sets Phonetic Beats apart from everything else is that there isn’t music for small children that combines rap beats with educational content. Another thing that sets Phonetic Beats apart is that I am not a rapper or a music producer. I am just a mom who wants educational music that both my child and I can listen to and love. A mother’s love is unmatched. We will do anything for our children and the bond we have with our children is such a beautiful thing.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I love most about DFW is that it is so large, yet so small. No matter what you want to do whether it’s a new hang out spot with your friends, or taking on a new career path, you can find it in Dallas. I personally love Desoto because it has a small town feel yet everything Dallas has to offer is generally only about 20 minutes away. Another thing I love is the people here are amazing! I have been living in the Dallas area all of my life (27 years), and I can count on one hand how many rude strangers I have encountered. The only thing I dislike about Dallas is driving downtown. My anxiety rises just thinking about it! If I have to go somewhere and I find out its downtown, I will do whatever it takes to get out of it. Besides that, I love everything about Dallas!
Pricing:
- Phonetic Beats, Volume 1 Letters A-M costs $12.99 on iTunes (but it is available on all music streaming platforms)
Contact Info:
- Website: faithrodgers.org
- Phone: 9729654990
- Email: info@faithrodgers.org
- Instagram: Www.instagram.com/phoneticbeats
- Facebook: Www.facebook.com/PhoneticBeatsForKids
- Other: linktr.ee/faithrodgers
Image Credit:
Rita Wortham
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
