The People behind the scenes
Meet our team
We are the team behind the Street Smart Slovak podcast, and are dedicated to making the process of learning Slovak enjoyable, engaging and accessible to students around the world.
We strive to create a fun and effective learning experience, bridging cultures and bringing Slovak to life in a practical, conversational way.
More friends and collaborators will be joining us here over the next year. If you want to collaborate with us, feel free to contact us.

Martina Hlavata
Instructor and Co-Producer
Martina is an experienced language tutor, translator from Bratislava, and native Slovak speaker. She’s here to help you speak and understand Slovak as it’s really spoken.
She shares her experiences of living in Bratislava, and provides insights into people, places, history, and culture.
Her goal is to build a meaningful connection—both with the language and with each other. There’s nothing she enjoys more than seeing her students’ faces light up with each small achievement on their journey.

Joe Kachurik
Student and Co-Producer
Student (of sorts)
Joe is a former technologist and executive, who is now turning his attention to art school, Slovak, guitar playing, and learning just how much work it takes to make a podcast.
He’s a native English speaker currently living in the United States. He provides insights into the language from the student’s point of view. He’ll share his own learning experiences, and some of challenges he has faced as an English-speaking student. He’ll also try to pass along a few tips and tools to help others overcome some of the challenges we all face as Slovak language students.

Collaborators
Join Our Team
Friends, students, teachers, and collaborators help us, from time to time, with design, content ideas, and so much more. We expect our team to grow, so if you’re one of those people who are passionate about helping others learn, we’d love to hear from you.
Graphic Designer
Copy Writer
WordPress Editor
Social Media Coordinator
Content Contributor
Student Reviewers