Ellen Oh is co-founder, President, and CEO of We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing diversity in children’s literature. She is also a former adjunct college instructor and corporate/entertainment attorney. She is the author of the YA fantasy trilogy The Prophecy Series and the MG novel Spirit Hunters: Book 1. Spirit Hunters: Book 2 will be published in Summer 2018.

Dhonielle Clayton is COO of We Need Diverse Books. She is the co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things series and The Belles series. She grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs on the Maryland side and spent most of her time under her grandmother’s table with a stack of books. A former teacher and middle school librarian, Dhonielle is co-founder of CAKE Literary, a creative development company whipping up decidedly diverse books for a wide array of readers. She’s got a serious travel bug and loves spending time outside of the USA, but makes her home in New York City, where she can most likely be found hunting for the best slice of pizza.

Judy Schricker has over twenty years of experience in corporate finance and accounting. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in Business Economics. She worked in Silicon Valley for over ten years and gained invaluable experience under amazing mentors on teams that took two start-up companies public. She later started her consulting business setting up finance operations for businesses and nonprofits.

Judy immigrated to the United States with her parents and sister when the girls were preschool and elementary school age. They are first-generation Taiwanese-Americans. Growing up in New Jersey, right outside NYC, Judy loved the melting pot atmosphere the city offered and was a die-hard New York Yankees fan. Dad would drive his blue Buick station wagon with family in tow to the games in the Bronx. She resides in sunny Reno, Nevada with her husband and two teen boys. In her free time when she is not walking/training their new addition to the family, Bella, a playful Shih Tzu, she volunteers on school and athletic committees. She is honored to be a part of WNDB for her kids and all kids.

Zoraida Córdova is the author of many fantasy novels for kids and teens, including the award-winning Brooklyn Brujas series, Incendiary, The Way to Rio Luna, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate. Her short fiction has appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, A Universe of Wishes, Come On In, and Toil & Trouble. She is the co-editor of the bestselling anthology Vampires Never Get Old. Her debut adult novel is The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina. She is the co-host of the podcast Deadline City with Dhonielle Clayton. Zoraida was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York. When she isn’t working on her next novel, she’s planning a new adventure.

Hena Khan is an award-winning author of picture books and middle grade fiction. Her middle grade novel Amina’s Voice launched Simon & Schuster’s groundbreaking Salaam Reads imprint and was named a Best Book of 2017 by the Washington Post, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, and others. The sequel, Amina’s Song, won the 2021 Asian/Pacific Award for Children’s Literature. Hena wrote the popular Zayd Saleem Chasing the Dream series, and More to the Story, a novel inspired by her all-time favorite book, Little Women. Hena’s acclaimed picture books include Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns, Under My Hijab, Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets, Night of the Moon, and It’s Ramadan, Curious George.

Hena began writing for children with Scholastic book clubs, publishing books for popular series about spies, space and more. She went on to write several pick-your-path format books including adventures to Mars and the Amazon rainforest. However, as a mother, Hena yearned to see books that represented kids like her children and decided to write them.

Today, Hena writes full time, often highlighting aspects of her culture, faith, community, friendship and family, and she draws heavily from own experiences. She loves exploring different formats to excite different readers, including a forthcoming graphic novel and new pick-your-path series. Hena enjoys presenting to children, educators, community members and others, and being a mom to two now teenaged boys. Whenever she gets the chance, Hena travels with her family, bakes, and reads books written by her favorite children’s authors.

Minh Lê is the award-winning picture book author of Lift (a Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2020), Drawn Together (winner of the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature), The Perfect Seat, and Let Me Finish. He is also the author of Green Lantern: Legacy, his debut middle grade graphic novel for DC Comics and appears in the anthology, The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love & Truth. In addition to writing books, Minh is a federal early childhood policy analyst who has worked at the local, state, and national level to help children and families access safe and high-quality early education. He received his bachelor’s in Psychology from Dartmouth College, a master’s in Education Policy from Harvard University, and has been published by the Huffington Post, NPR, and the New York Times.

Outside of spending time with his wonderful wife and kids in the home in San Diego, his favorite place to be is in the middle of a good book.

Cornelius Minor is a Brooklyn-based educator and part-time Pokemon trainer. He works with teachers, school leaders, and leaders of community-based organizations to support equitable literacy reform in cities (and sometimes villages) across the globe. His latest book, We Got This, explores how the work of creating more equitable school spaces is embedded in our everyday choices — specifically in the choice to really listen to kids.

Cornelius has been featured in Education Week, Brooklyn Magazine, and Teaching Tolerance Magazine. He has partnered with The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, The New York City Department of Education, The International Literacy Association, Scholastic, and Lesley University’s Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative. Out of Print, a documentary featuring Cornelius, made its way around the film festival circuit, and he has been a featured speaker at conferences all over the world. He is a dedicated Hip hop fan, and on some evenings, you can find him online saving the universe with his PlayStation or on paper saving the realm in Dungeons & Dragons.

Most recently, along with his partner and wife, Kass Minor, he has established The Minor Collective, a community-based movement designed to foster sustainable change in schools. Whether working with educators and kids in Los Angeles, Seattle, or New York City, Cornelius uses his love for technology, literature, and social media to bring communities together. As a teacher, Cornelius draws not only on his years teaching middle school in the Bronx and Brooklyn, but also on time spent skateboarding, shooting hoops, and working with young people.

These days, Cornelius is learning how to bake from his two young children, searching for an elusive pair of Jordan IVs, and is ritually re-reading all of the 1990’s era comic books that he can find.

Caroline Richmond joined the WNDB staff in 2017 as a Program Manager before moving into the Program Director role where she helped oversee the nonprofit’s groundbreaking initiatives. Now, as Executive Director, she eagerly looks forward to launching new programming, donating more diverse books to schools and libraries, and growing the organization even further.

Caroline is also an award-winning author and lives in Maryland with her family.

Elissa Petruzzi is a lifelong book lover and journalist who has been published in USA Weekend, the Baltimore Sun, In Touch Weekly, DCist, and more. During her stint as longtime editor of Romantic Times magazine, she interviewed bestselling authors like Suzanne Collins, Beverly Jenkins, and Francine Pascal. Elissa has also written numerous nonfiction titles on topics like state history, job skills, and stem cells. As Program Manager at WNDB, Elissa handles the Creative Writing Awards and other projects.

Kaitlyn Sage Patterson grew up with her nose in a book outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After a 10 year stint in West Tennessee, she’s once more happily living at the feet of the mountains that raised her. Her debut novel, THE DIMINISHED, was published by HarlequinTEEN in 2018. Its sequel, THE EXALTED followed in 2019.

When she’s not staring off into space and trying to untangle some particularly troublesome plot point, she can be found in her kitchen, practicing the most difficult recipes she can find; or at the barn, where she rides and trains dressage horses; or with her husband, spoiling their sweet rescue critters.

JoAnn Yao is the Social Media Manager for We Need Diverse Books. She holds a B.S. in Computational Media from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.A. in TV, Radio, & Film from Syracuse University. Among other things, she has conducted research for the American Film Institute, provided book and script coverage for a Hollywood agency, designed an online narrative game, and written a comic for a New Frontiers anthology. She lives in New York City with her dragon’s hoard of books.

Breanna J. McDaniel is the author of the picture book Hands Up!, a book reviewer, education consultant, and researcher. She holds an MA in Children’s Literature from Simmons University and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Education at the University of Cambridge with research focused on representations of black children in contemporary picture books. She’s the co-founder of Researchers Exploring Inclusive Youth Literature (REIYL) and though she’s originally from Atlanta, GA, she now splits her time between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Chelsea P. Villareal is a children’s media strategist from Portland, Oregon. She holds a BUPA in Political Science & Media Studies from Portland State University and is currently completing her Master’s in Communication & Education at Columbia University, with a focus on civic imagination and Latinx representation. She works on the Brand Marketing team at Penguin Young Readers and lives in New York City. As Program Manager at WNDB, Chelsea handles the Internship Grant Programs.

Kandace Coston grew up in the Bronx, New York, where she spent her weekends at the library reading stories and writing her own. After graduating from Barnard College, Columbia University, she won a grant from WNDB during the inaugural year of their summer internship program. Kandace completed her internship at Lee & Low Books, an independent, multicultural publisher, and today, Kandace is the associate editor at Lee & Low where she enjoys working with new authors and illustrators on all kinds of picture books.

Linda Hom joins the WNDB team as the Human Resources Generalist. She comes to WNDB with over 15 years of experience working in the non profit sector. Prior to joining WNDB, Linda ran the human resources department of a large non profit housing developer. She has a B.A. in Business Administration from San Jose State University. While not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband, their two children, and their dog.

Chris became the Accounting Manager for WNDB in 2017 after 20 years as a Program Manager for a high tech start-up located in the San Francisco Bay Area. She shares her home in the high desert of Nevada with her husband, two bloodhounds, ten chickens, and a rooster, and is mother to two daughters. She enjoys hiking, skiing, biking, reading, and walking among the sagebrush and wildlife she and her family share in their little slice of paradise.

Dhonielle Clayton is COO of We Need Diverse Books. She is the co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things series and The Belles series. She grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs on the Maryland side and spent most of her time under her grandmother’s table with a stack of books. A former teacher and middle school librarian, Dhonielle is co-founder of CAKE Literary, a creative development company whipping up decidedly diverse books for a wide array of readers. She’s got a serious travel bug and loves spending time outside of the USA, but makes her home in New York City, where she can most likely be found hunting for the best slice of pizza.

Kathie Weinberg is a library consultant with the Library of Congress Young Readers Center, and a Program Coordinator with An Open Book Foundation. Formerly she was head of Teen Service at the Bethesda Library in Montgomery County Maryland. She has a Masters in Science from Simmons College, and a BA Degree from the University of Wisconsin. An active member of the American Library Association, YALSA Division, she has presented at annual meetings on programming and space planning for teens in public libraries. She is on the board of Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens.

Terry Hong created and maintains Smithsonian BookDragon, an extensive book blog for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, where she was media arts consultant for eight years. She was an original Advisor for Girl Rising, a global action campaign highlighting girls’ education; she was the Writer Wrangler for the film of the same name. She taught for Duke University’s Leadership in the Arts. She co-authored two books, Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism and What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature; other publication credits include Booklist, Christian Science Monitor, Library Journal/School Library Journal, NYT, San Francisco Chronicle, School Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, and many others. She is the Advisory Board Chair for Booklist. She has served on various award committees, including the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Audies, and chaired USBBY’s Outstanding International Books and the Hans Christian Andersen U.S. Nominations. Follow Terry on Twitter @SIBookDragon.

Miranda Paul is an award-winning children’s author of eight picture books, including the nonfiction titles One Plastic Bag and Water is Water, both named Junior Library Guild selections. Her books have received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly, and select awards include a 2017 ILA Teacher’s Choice (Whose Hands Are These?), 2016 Green Earth Book Award Honor, 2016 Children’s Africana Book Award Notable (One Plastic Bag), Maryland Blue Crab Award winner and Charlotte Zolotow Notable title (Water is Water). Miranda makes lively appearances at schools, libraries, and bookstores, and has been a guest presenter at the Library of Congress Young Readers Center along with environmental activist Isatou Ceesay. Her 2018-2019 works include Adventures to School and I Am Farmer, both co-authored with her husband, Baptiste Paul. She believes in working hard, having fun, and being kind. Though her work as Mentorship chair of We Need Diverse Books is mostly serious and professional, she also has a silly side—which, she claims, only comes out on days that end in y. Learn more at www.mirandapaul.com.

Meg Cannistra writes both middle grade and young adult books. She’s the author of THE TROUBLE WITH SHOOTING STARS, a middle grade novel coming out in Summer 2019. After living in New York City and North Jersey for a few years, Meg now resides with her two cats, Gloom and Doom, in Charlotte, North Carolina. She has a BA in English Literature from Flagler College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. When she’s not taking pictures of her cats or wandering around grocery stores, she writes magical, mysterious, and sometimes scary stories. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram at @MegCannistra, and learn more about her books at www.megcannistra.com.

Leslie Stall Widener was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She and her husband Terry Widener, also an illustrator, moved to Texas in 1980.

In the 1990’s, she created illustrations for educational projects with Scribner McGraw-Hill,McMillian Publishing, Whittle Communications, Boy’s Life Magazine, and a picture book for Summit Publishing.

After working as a freelance art director and photography stylist in catalogue advertising, she’s returned to the business of illustration, most recently with three traditional Choctaw tales, including “shuka anumpa” (pig tales).

She’s currently revising a middle grade novel about a 14-year-old girl named Mahli. This story is based on the Choctaw’s forced removal from Mississippi to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the Trail of Tears. Leslie is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a legacy of her maternal grandmother.

She and Terry live in a 1912 farmhouse in historic McKinney, Texas and have 3 grown children.

The daughter of Korean immigrants, Linda Sue Park is the author of many books for young readers, including the 2002 Newbery Medal winner A SINGLE SHARD and the NYTimes bestseller A LONG WALK TO WATER. Her most recent title is THE ONE THING YOU’D SAVE, a collection of linked poems illustrated by Robert Sae Heng (HMH/Clarion Books, March 2021). Visit her at www.lindasuepark.com and on Twitter @LindaSuePark.

Kandace Coston grew up in the Bronx, New York, where she spent her weekends at the library reading stories and writing her own. After graduating from Barnard College, Columbia University, she won a grant from WNDB during the inaugural year of their summer internship program. Kandace completed her internship at Lee & Low Books, an independent, multicultural publisher, and today, Kandace is the associate editor at Lee & Low where she enjoys working with new authors and illustrators on all kinds of picture books.

Jim Averbeck works, plays, and evades the law in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. His first book, In a Blue Room, was a Charlotte Zolotow Honor book. His popular books Except If and Oh No, Little Dragon! feature charming protagonists with pointy teeth. His book, The Market Bowl and his middle grade novel, A Hitch at the Fairmont were Junior Library Guild Selections. Chosen by indie booksellers for their very first Diversity Initiative, his book One Word From Sophia, was a Top 100 African-American Kids’ Book included in Marley Dias’ viral 1000blackgirlbooks video, as well as a Kirkus and Bank Street Best Book of 2015, and a “must read” IndyNext Top 10. Other books include Trevor for Roaring Brook Press/Neal Porter; and the “fun, clever, and empowering” Two Problems for Sophia and Love by Sophia, companion volumes to One Word From Sophia.

Spy agencies can find Jim online at jimaverbeck.com

Alexandra Hightower is an Atlanta native who took a circuitous route to publishing. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in neuroscience, and then, realizing her passion lay closer to books, she pursued a MS in Publishing, Print and Digital Media from New York University. Currently, she is an Associate Editor at Little Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette Book Group) and when not editing and devouring manuscripts, she can be found binging any and every podcast.

J. Albert Mann is a disability activist, an award-winning poet and the author of eight published novels for children. She has an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults and is the Partner Liaison for the WNDB Internship Grant Committee. She lives on a little fishing boat in the Boston Harbor with her first mate, Marcella, a ginger tabby.

Talisa Ramos is a born and raised New Yorker/Nuyorican. A graduate of Barnard College, she earned her degree in American Studies & currently works on the Sales team at Penguin Random House. She is passionate about all facets of literacy, storytelling, literature, and public speaking. A proud Brooklynite, she lives in Brooklyn with her precocious dog Jax, where she can be found binge reading or binge watching compelling stories of all genres.

Karen Sandler is the author of nineteen novels for adults, and the YA science fiction Tankborn trilogy from multi-cultural publisher Lee and Low Books. She’s currently adapting the Tankborn series for television. An enthusiastic advocate of diversity in children’s literature, she is a founding team member of We Need Diverse Books.

Suma Subramaniam is the contributing author of The Hero Next Door (Penguin Random House, July 2019). She is also the author of She Sang For India: How MS Subbulakshmi Used Her Voice For Change (Macmillan FSG, Winter 2022) and Namaste Is A Greeting (Candlewick, Fall 2022). She is the Mentorship Program Coordinator for SCBWI Western Washington. She hires tech professionals for a leading software company during the day and is a writer by night. Suma has an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and degrees in computer science and management. Visit her website at https://sumasubramaniam.com.

Jafreen Uddin is Executive Director of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, which is devoted to creating, publishing, and developing creative writing by Asian Americans, and to providing an alternative literary arts space at the intersection of migration, race, and social justice. She is the first woman to lead the organization since its founding in 1991.

Stephanie Cohen-Perez is an editor, writer, and reviewer based in New York City. Having grown up in a multicultural and diverse background, Stephanie hopes to support underrepresented and marginalized voices in all genres of literature. She enjoys YA stories about ghosts and goblins and outer space the most, and dabbles in illustration for young readers. Stephanie lives and travels with her well-read dog, Teddy. 

Esther Gim has built a career editing at media outlets with an arc toward justice. Currently she is a senior editor at Rewire.News, a nonprofit online publication that covers reproductive and sexual health rights. and justice. She’s also a lifelong lover of books and libraries.

Kayla Lightner is an agent assistant at Ayesha Pande Literary. Prior to joining the wonderful team at APL, she worked at Liza Dawson Associates. A Georgia native with a B.A. in English from Vassar College, Kayla worked as a fashion market assistant at Harper’s Bazaar and a freelance writer at Creative Loafing Atlanta before finding her way to publishing.

Isabella Peralta is a Filipino writer, editor, and educator whose work explores identity, diaspora, love, and belonging. As an advocate of racial and cultural diversity in literature and new media, Isabella has worked for various organizations and festivals that champion underrepresented voices, including the Global Migrant Festival, Ayesha Pande Literary, Poets House NYC, and We Need Diverse Books.

Danielle Yadao is a Brooklyn transplant who pretends to miss the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest. She works in marketing at Scholastic and is a member of its diversity sub-committee. She’s often found catching up on week-old viral trends and celebrity gossip, bingeing very dramatic television, and fangirling over every dog on the street. She’s a staunch believer that it’s not hoarding if it’s plants.

Alicia K. Long is a bilingual librarian, educator, and scholar. She is an adjunct instructor at the University of South Florida, School of Information (USF SI) teaching “Multicultural Materials for Children and Young Adults” and the Access Services Supervisor at the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota Libraries. Alicia is the 2021-2022 President of REFORMA de Florida, a chapter of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking. She has chaired and been a member of the Pura Belpré Award Selection Committee and a book reviewer for The Horn Book Magazine. Alicia was an American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leader and an ALA Spectrum Scholar.

J. Tyler Chadwell-English
Tyler is a Teen Librarian and Volunteer Coordinator for Urbana Regional Library in the Frederick County Maryland Public Library System. He graduated with a Masters in Library and Information Science from The University of Pittsburgh. He has an additional Masters in Folklore from George Mason University. Prior to that he worked and taught at The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the Campus of Fairmont State University. His most recent accomplishment is co-writing a chapter in Dr. Simon Bronner’s new text The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies on LGBTQIA+ folklore and community folklife.

Lindsay Hall is a school librarian at Alexandria City High School. Inspired by the phenomenal librarians in her hometown of Marietta, Georgia, she is dedicated to showing young learners how libraries can enrich their lives by building community, answering questions, and fostering creativity. She has been fortunate to work with students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, and strives to encourage the next generation of readers and lifelong learners. In addition to her role as school librarian, she has also collaborated on projects in Guatemala, Ghana, and Jamaica to connect with readers around the world.

Ariana Hussain is a Lower School teacher librarian at the Blake School in the Minneapolis metro area. Currently serving a three-year term on the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Board of Directors of the American Library Association (ALA), she previously served two years as chair of the ALSC Grants Administration Committee. She has also served on the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Executive Board as a Member-at-Large and as co-chair of the Family Literacy Focus Committee/Talk Story. Ariana was a 2014 ALA Emerging Leader. 

Ariana has served on several book evaluation committees including Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 a part of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the American Library Association (ALA), the Stonewall Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award of ALA’s Rainbow Roundtable, ALSC Notable Children’s Books Committee, the APALA Literature Awards: Picture Books Committee, and the Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC), Middle East Book Award: Youth Nonfiction. Ariana has reviewed for Kirkus, Horn Book, and School Library Journal. She is a founding member of Hijabi Librarians, a collective of Muslim librarians that evaluate kidlit books featuring Muslim characters or have Muslim authors.

For the last 40 years, Gregory Lum has been in education as a classroom teacher or school librarian. Lum has taught all levels from kindergarten to graduate-level college courses. He earned a B.S. in elementary education from Oregon State University and an M.L.S. from Vanderbilt University. Currently, Lum serves as the library director at Jesuit High School in Portland. He also taught courses as an adjunct instructor for Portland State University and George Fox University.

Professionally, Lum served on the board and/or committees for the Oregon Association of School Libraries, ALA, AASL, YALSA, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Improving Literacy through School Libraries review board. In 2009-10, he was one of twelve school librarians selected to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Library Media Standards Committee.  Lum was appointed to the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults, the 2011 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (chair), the Michael L. Printz Award (2012 admin, 2014 committee member), the 2016 Award for Excellence in Nonfiction (chair), the 2018 Schneider Family Book Awards, the 2019 John Newbery Medal, the 2021 Walter Dean Myers Book Award, and a second term on the Walter Dean Myers Book Award.

Recognitions include Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers Award, YALSA’s Baker & Taylor Award, National School Library Media Specialist of the Year Award, Oregon Secondary Library Media Teacher of the Year Award, and YALSA’s Volunteer of the Year.

Rachel L. Rickard Rebellino is a teacher, researcher, and consultant. She holds a PhD in Teaching and Learning with a specialty in Literature for Children and Young Adults from The Ohio State University, where she was a Presidential Fellow. Rachel has taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on children’s and young adult literature at The Ohio State University and Bowling Green State University. Her academic research focuses on narrative form, digital youth cultures, girlhood studies, and the role of youth literature in facilitating conversations around equity and justice. Her work on youth literature can be found in The ALAN Review, English Journal, The Lion and the Unicorn, and Bookbird as well as in the edited collections Dust Off the Gold Medal: Rediscovering Children’s Literature at the Newbery Centennial, Beyond the Blockbusters: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction, Critical Approaches for Critical Educators: Engaging with Multicultural Young Adult Literature in the Secondary Classroom, and Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays. She previously served on the committee of The Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry.