Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman, 18, is a poet, community leader, and commissioned speaker. She is the first ever Youth Poet Laureate of the West, and served as inaugural Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate. During her tenure she has toured Los Angeles, read for the mayor, worked with the LA Commission on Human Relations to brainstorm youth programs, and published a collection of poetry, ‘The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough’. She is an ambassador for the online platform for teen girls, schoolofdoodle.com, where she writes tips, produces their upcoming survival guide, and serves on the Diversity Committee. An award-winning writer, she is founder and Executive Director of One Pen One Page (onepenonpage.org), a nonprofit organization that promotes literacy and leadership through creative writing workshops. She is also Editor-in-Chief of the OPOP online literary magazine, which elevates the voices and powers of youth through literal and visual storytelling . OPOP now has partnerships in Afghanistan and across the U.S., and is building programs in Kenya. As Executive Director she is designing a curriculum that will enable educators around the world to use creative writing in the classroom. She has served as a United Nations Youth Delegate in New York City, where she worked with UN representatives, activists, and non-governmental organization to propose solutions for equality, hunger, poverty, water, sustainability, and human rights. She has been an ANNpower Fellow in Washington, D.C and a ANNpower Global Delegate in London at the TrustWomen Conference. She appeared on The Today Show for her work supporting the Bring Back Our Girls movement, spoke at the British Consulate for A World at School, worked with 72andSunny Productions to pitch a girls’ education commercial to Starbucks, and is currently organizing a poetry contest that will feature Malala. She is a teen editor and Ambassador for School of Doodle (schoolofdoodle.com), an innovative online high school. She provides a constant stream of content, helps develop their poetry curriculum, manage their Diversity Committee, and build their other financial and creative educational programs. In 2015 she served as Director of the youth-led organization "Art You" Poetry Initiatives. She was awarded an Outstanding Community Service Award by the city of Los Angeles and a Certificate of Recognition for her leadership by the California State Assembly. She has appeared Nickelodeon and ABC Family for her activism, and has been featured in The Argonaut and Cultural Weekly. She has been commissioned to write for the Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Grand Park Festival of Books, the PAWs organization, Live Talks LA, and more. Her work is in the award-winning WriteGirl anthologies 'You Are Here' and 'Emotional Map of Los Angeles', The Huffington Post, HelloGiggles, Lament for the Dead, and mariashriver.com. Currently she is preparing to study political science and creative writing at Harvard University.