Director of Literacy Council has special connection with ESL
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Brandi Miller, left, executive director of the Literacy Council of Southwestern Pennsylvania, works with students Wednesday.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Brandi Miller, executive director of the Literacy Council of Southwestern Pennsylvania
Brandi Miller recalls the challenges her mother, Yong Butler, faced as a Korean immigrant who moved to the United States at the age of 28.
The biggest obstacle was language. Not knowing English, Miller said, limited Butler’s ability to communicate with the mainstream community.
So when Miller, who was tapped in January as executive director of the Literacy Council of Southwestern Pennsylvania, first learned about the nonprofit’s English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, she immediately thought about her mother, who speaks broken English and now owns a popular dry cleaning company in Pittsburgh.
“I thought, if this had been available to my mom when I was growing up, she wouldn’t have had all of the struggles she had in her life,” said Miller. “She’s successful now, but it would have been much easier for her if these programs were available to her. They weren’t. She learned English from listening to her friends speak. When I realized what the Literacy Council actually does for people – immigrants and everybody else – I thought this is perfect. This is what I want to do, this is what I need to do. This is how I can make a difference.”
The 34-year-old Korean-born Miller is uniquely suited to lead the Literacy Council, which provides instruction in reading and writing to adults and children in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties.
Her parents met at Yong Butler’s cousin’s convenience store when Miller’s father, Jack Butler, was serving in Korea with the U.S. Army, and they married in 1983.
Yong Butler’s parents, who were well-to-do business owners, did not approve of their daughter’s marriage and kept Miller for five months after she was born, until the Butlers left Korea.
Miller grew up in a bicultural household, where her family celebrated Korean and American holidays, attended Korean and Catholic church services, and ate Korean and American food.
She and her brother, Jack, who is 14 months younger, were the only Asians in the elementary school they attended in Homestead, and Jack was beaten up on more than one occasion for looking different.
Miller recalls having fewer than half a dozen Asian- and African-American classmates when she attended Norwin High School.
“We got made fun of. There really wasn’t anyone who looked like us,” said Miller. “But I think it made me stronger. It made me have a thicker skin and it made me want to stand up for myself.”
A three-sport athlete at Norwin, Miller graduated from Seton Hill College, where she majored in history and political science and minored in philosophy and entrepreneurial business.
She worked for a nonprofit organization, the Boy Scouts of America, and a not-for-profit credit union before a fellow Rotarian mentioned at a meeting that the executive director position at the Literacy Council had opened up.
Said Kris Drach, board president of the Literacy Council, “Brandi has tremendous passion. I think she’s a rock star in the nonprofit community in Washington County. Her compassion for our mission was obvious, and her own story about her immigration to the United States is so typical of the students that we serve. I knew she would be able to provide the leadership to the program that we needed.”
A self-described “workhorse” who rarely takes vacations, Miller said she gets her work ethic from her mother.
“She was always telling me to do my best. She always told us that if you want to succeed, you have to work hard. She had a wonderful life in Korea and she came over here with nothing, and she never complained. She just worked. She’s the hardest working person I’ve ever met,” said Miller.
When Miller and her brother were small, Butler, who had a maid attend to her needs when she was growing up, worked three jobs – at a gas station, cleaning homes and at a Korean market in Pittsburgh. She still spends about 15 hours a day, six days a week, at her dry cleaning business.
Drach said Miller’s drive and persistence has been inspirational to the staff.
“She’s an amazing person. She’s tireless, she works constantly. She’s the most dedicated person in our organization, and she sets the example for everybody,” said Drach. “She brings a tremendous amount of talent and good values to the organization and she’s a wonderful role model.”
In her spare time, Miller and her husband, Shane, a technical sergeant in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard who recently returned from a second deployment in Iraq, trail ride on bicycles, ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles and spend time with their 2-year-old rescue Weimaraner, named Harley.
Miller also plays in two softball leagues.
She belongs to several volunteer organizations and is an active member at Immaculate Conception Church in Washington, where she was baptized and confirmed in 2017 after completing the church’s RCIA program.
And, she visits flea markets weekly with her mother.
Miller, who has her feet deftly planted on both sides of the cultural fence, said her one regret is not learning to speak Korean, which she believes could have helped Yong feel less alienated by the language barrier.
“My mother and I are extremely close, and I kick myself every day for not learning the language,” said Miller.”It probably would have made things easier for my mom, but I wasn’t thinking of it that way when I was younger.”
Miller is proud of the Literacy Council’s efforts to pave a new path for immigrants. And she is awed and inspired by the men, women and children who walk through the doors of Fairhill Manor Christian Church seeking to learn English.
“Every person who comes through this door is strong, and they face a new challenge every day. They all have stories. We have a dentist and a nurse who aren’t allowed to practice in the United States until they pass exams and get a university degree here,” said Miller. “Other students want to get their driver’s licenses, or they need to be able to go to the doctor’s office and tell the doctor they’re in pain, or go to a grocery store and be able to shop, or pay bills.”
The Literacy Council was established in 1985, and volunteer tutors work in collaboration with Intermediate Unit I to prepare students for the General Education Development (GED) exam.
The ESL classes were introduced about seven years ago, and Miller said the Literacy Council has helped teach English to people from 53 different countries.
Miller understands the cultural struggles a large number of immigrants feel as they adjust to living in the United States, and she feels a connection and a sense of obligation to the students participating in the ESL program.
She recalled how her paternal grandmother, who also disapproved of her parents’ union, requested that Miller and her brother not be baptized in the Catholic faith when they were children.
“I want to make sure our students have a voice,” said Miller. “I want them to be able to live a life here where they can be successful. Most of the immigrants who come here want to better their lives. They want to have a future for themselves and their children. If we can provide that for them, if we can provide them with a portal to the American culture, that means the world to us.”
ESL classes are offered weekly at Fairhill Manor Christian Church in Washington and Central Assembly of God Church in Houston. Tutors and students meet weekly throughout the county in various libraries. The ESL classes are free and include tutors and classroom materials for students whose first language is not English. For additional information about the Literacy Council and the classes available, contact the office at 724-228-6188.