Saturday, April 25, 2026, 8:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. PT
23 Years of Pitch-O-Rama Success!
Are you developing a concept for a new book? Do you have a manuscript in progress? Have you always wanted to publish that book you’ve been working on for years? If this sounds like you, we would love to invite you to Pitch-O-Rama 2026! Everyone is welcome to participate!
We are happy to announce we will be hosting the next Pitch-O-Rama as a virtual event on April 25th, 2026, where writers will be given the opportunity to pitch their works to agents and editors for publication.
New to Pitch-O-Rama? Pitch-O-Rama is an annual event where we bring in a set of publishing professionals to share their knowledge of the publishing industry. During the event, you will be able to practice your pitch with coaches and fellow writers, and then share that pitch with an expert who will provide advice on taking your writing project to the next level. A chance like this is an invaluable learning experience that could put you on the path to publication. We hope to see you there!
Stay tuned! We will reveal the list of attending agents and editors in early 2026.
Testimonials from Past Participants
“Pitch-O-Rama was not only helpful, but fun, with lots of laughter, networking, and relevant information. As a newbie, I felt at home and am pitching the WNBA to my friends and colleagues. Go women writers! WNBA, you rock!” – Susan Allison
“I participated in the WNBA-SF Pitch-o-Rama in 2021. At the time, I’d almost completed my memoir, From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction. I worked hard on my pitch and three of the agents asked me to submit to them. Several months later, with the manuscript polished and ready to go, I did so. Even though other agents were interested, I signed with Anne Marie O’Farrell, whom I had met via the WNBA event. Working with both Anne Marie and Caroline Fanelli at her agency, I added an appendix to the manuscript, and they started submitting. Less than three months later, I signed with HCI (Health Communications Inc.), which specializes in recovery and self-help books.” – Mary Beth O’Connor
“I will always be incredibly grateful to WNBA for the Pitch-O-Rama. Several years ago, I was struggling to get an agent. I had a toddler at home, and I was sure I had missed the boat. Here in the Bay Area, there are many talented writers, but very little access to literary agents. There were big pitch conferences in New York and other parts of the US. But at the time, I couldn’t travel because I had such limited time and money as a new mom. I was pining away on my computer, querying agents and drowning in the isolation. I found out about the Pitch-O-Rama, and immediately registered.” – Aya De Leon
Special Pricing
Currently, as part of our Early Bird Special, register for only $85 as a WNBA-SF member and $130 as a non-member before it expires on January 31st, 2026! After that day, registration will be $95 for WNBA-SF members and $145 for non-members so don’t wait to register!
Your registration is fully refundable before midnight Wednesday, April 15th, 2026. Send your request for a refund to: registrar@wnba-sfchapter.org. If you’d like to take advantage of member pricing, visit our website to learn more about the benefits of WNBA-SF membership and join the chapter’s community!
While we eagerly prepare for Pitch-O-Rama 2026, don’t forget to read our tips on pitching your work!
Before 1/31/2026: $85 for WNBA-SF members, $130 for non-members
After 1/31/2026: $95 for WNBA-SF members, $145 for non-members
Please register for POR 2026 using the form below:
Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of 
REGISTER HERE!
Brenda Knight, author of Women of the Beat Generation, began her publishing career at HarperCollins working with luminaries including Paolo Coehlo, Marianne Williamson, Mark Nepo, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Knight was awarded IndieFab’s Publisher of the Year at the American Library Association in 2014. She is the author of Random Acts of Kindness, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation which won the American Book Award. She is President of WNBA-SF Chapter.
Elise Marie Collins has consulted with small businesses, authors, and alumni associations on social media marketing and believes that a social media plan should be intuitive, fun, and seamless. Helping students and clients form healthy lifestyle patterns is Elise Collins’ passion and life purpose. She has taught yoga for the past 20 years and is the author of several books on healthy living, including her latest, Super Ager: You Can Look Younger, Have More Energy, a Better Memory, and Live a Long and Healthy Life. Elise enjoys sharing yoga wisdom and current scientific research and is President of WNBA National.
Kate Farrell, author, storyteller, and educator founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Her award-winning new book is a how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories. She offers workshops on storytelling and the heroine’s journey for libraries and writing groups 
Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals and creator of the D*E*B METHOD®, for Goal-Setting Simplified. A goals strategist, corporate consultant, and workshop leader, Debra offers personal and professional planning content development, event strategy, and team-building for executives, entrepreneurs, consultants, and companies. Debra has spoken on stages for TEDx, Innovation Women, SCORE LA, and more. She is the founder of the 
Paul S. Levine “wears two hats:” he is a lawyer (www.paulslevine.com) and a literary agent (www.paulslevinelit.com). Mr. Levine has practiced entertainment law for more than 40 years and established his first solo practice in 1992. Seeing an underserved niche on the West Coast, he decided early on to focus on serving book authors. This naturally evolved into his work as a literary agent. Seeking to expand the range of services he could offer his clients to include the representation of books, Levine opened The Paul S. Levine Literary Agency in 1996, which he has recently expanded. Whether he is considering fiction or non-fiction, Levine will not take on a project unless he feels certain he can sell it. With a preference for politically and socially important works, he represents more than 200 book authors, the vast majority of whom are new, unpublished, or self-published writers. For Levine, the most rewarding moment is holding his client’s published book in his hands at a well-attended book signing and seeing the smile on his client’s face. Enjoying public speaking and teaching, Levine presents extensively at writers’ conferences throughout the country and at entertainment law-related classes and seminars.
Naleighna Kai is the USA TODAY, Essence®, and national bestselling and award-winning author of several controversial novels. She is a literary agent with The Seymour Agency and also a contributor to a New York Times bestseller, one of AALBC’s 100 Top Authors, a member of the Chicago Vocational School Hall of Fame (CVS), Mercedes Benz Mentor Award Nominee, and the E. Lynn Harris Author of Distinction.
Andy Ross opened his literary agency in January 2008. Before that, he was the owner for 30 years of the legendary Cody’s Books in Berkeley. The agency represents books in a wide range of subjects including narrative non-fiction, science, journalism, history, religion, children’s books, young adult, middle grade, literary and commercial fiction, and cooking. However, he is eager to represent projects in most genres as long as the subject or its treatment is smart, original, and will appeal to a wide readership. In non-fiction, he looks for writing with a strong voice and robust narrative arc by authors with the authority to write about their subject. For literary, commercial, and children’s fiction, he has only one requirement– simple, but ineffable–that the writing reveals the terrain of that vast and unexplored country, the human heart. 
Leland Cheuk is a MacDowell and Hawthornden Castle Fellow and award-winning author of three books of fiction, most recently the novel NO GOOD VERY BAD ASIAN (2019). Cheuk’s work has been covered in Buzzfeed, The Paris Review, VICE, San Francisco Chronicle, and has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as NPR, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, among other outlets.
Lindsey Smith (Speilburg Literary Agency) represents non-fiction projects. In addition to being a literary agent, she owns a bookstore in her hometown, runs her own publishing press, and is the author of several books and gift products. Having worked in every facet of the publishing industry—from author to publisher, to PR strategist to publicist, she knows the book industry inside and out.
Kat Georges is a poet, playwright, editor, publisher, and graphic designer. She is co-director and an acquisitions editor for Three Rooms Press, an independent publisher inspired by diversity, dada, punk, and passion. Her most recent book is the poetry collection Awe and Other Words Like Wow, and she is co-editor of MAINTENANT, the annual journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art. She lives in New York City. Kat is currently looking for LGBTQ+ fiction and young adult fiction that deal directly with current anti-queer attitudes, mysteries that center on bold and daring diverse main characters, and riveting women of history who need to have more attention given to them. Kat welcomes voices that have something different to say, that inspire readers, and that shows the power of innovative, compelling writing. To see the latest Three Rooms Press releases, visit 
Natalie Obando is a graduate from California State University, Long Beach with a BA in journalism emphasizing public relations and a minor concentration in creative writing. For nearly two decades, she’s worked in the world of books as a book publicist. Natalie is the founder of Do Good Public Relations Group and the grassroots organization, Women of Color Writers Podcast and Programming. She is the current national president of the 105-year-old non-profit, the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA), overseeing all eleven chapters across the nation. As the first Latina president of the national organization, her goal has been promoting diversity in publishing via strategic grassroots efforts. Her dedication to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the book world led her to found and chair Authentic Voices—a four-month long program that immerses people from marginalized communities in a master class of writing, editing, marketing, and publishing.
Peter Carlaftes is a publisher, poet, playwright, author, and actor. The most recent of his seven published books is the poetry collection, Life in the Past Lane. He is co-director and acquisitions editor for Three Rooms Press, with a strong interest in memoirs, literary fiction, mystery, and fantasy by diverse authors.
A well-established agent, who began her career as an editor at major publishing houses, Rita Rosenkranz represents almost exclusively adult non-fiction titles. Her wide-ranging list includes health, history, parenting, music, how-to, popular science, business, biography, sports, popular reference, cooking, writing, humor, memoir, spirituality, illustrated books and general interest titles. She represents first-time as well as seasoned authors, and looks for projects that present familiar subjects freshly or lesser-known subjects presented commercially. Rita works with major publishing houses, as well as regional publishers that handle niche markets. She is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA), The Authors Guild, and Women’s Media Group.
Jacklyn Saferstein-Hansen is a literary agent at boutique Los Angeles agency Renaissance Literary & Talent. She represents commercial fiction, nonfiction, and illustrated books. Her authors include Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, thriller novelist Jennifer Moorhead, cookbook author and novelist Allyson Reedy, and many more. Her agency represents big names including Cher, Goldie Hawn, Heidi Murkoff, and Vanity Fair writer Sam Kashner, as well as several prominent literary estates. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, she earned her BA in English, Classical Civilization and Medieval Studies and her MFA in Screenwriting, both from Boston University. She is looking to add fresh literary voices to her list in the areas of general and women’s fiction, thriller, history, Jewish issues, and pop culture.
Isabelle Bleecker is a book publishing industry veteran based in New York’s Hudson Valley. In her over 30 years in publishing, she has held positions across editorial, production, and subsidiary rights in several houses including Rizzoli, Tuttle, Basic Books, Da Capo Press, PublicAffairs, and Running Press, giving her a thorough insider’s understanding of every aspect of the trade book business. With Jennifer Thompson she established Nordlyset Literary Agency in 2018 and has placed works of fiction and nonfiction with such imprints as Random House, Algonquin/Little Brown, St. Martin’s Press, Dutton Books for Young Readers, Shambhala, and Broadleaf Books, among others.
Celebrating 48 years working in publishing, John Willig often says to friends that his career actually began as a Newsday paperboy growing up on Long Island, New York. After graduating from Brown University, his first job was as a sales representative in academic publishing. He soon began work as a marketing manager and then editor for HarperCollins where he published in 1984 one of the first books on AI Artificial Intelligence: Tools, Techniques and Applications by Tim O’Shea and Marc Eisenstadt. As his interests moved to trade publishing, he became an executive editor at Prentice Hall for business books. While at P-Hall, John enjoyed working with such authors as Henry Mintzberg, Philip Kotler and Jim Collins. He acquired and edited Jim’s first book Beyond Entrepreneurship which now has a new edition B.E. 2.0. In 1991 he decided to become a literary agent to work more closely with writers. Throughout his career as an editor and agent, John has successfully negotiated over 850 publishing agreements and worked with many award-winning authors. John participates at many industry events including the 
Throughout her career, Jen Newens has been an author, editor, and publisher, giving her experience in all sides of the publishing business. In her new role as agent, Jen applies her 360-view of the publishing world, seeking out original voices and developing exciting new talent in children’s literature and adult nonfiction categories.
Noelle Armstrong is an Acquisitions Editor at New World Library, a publisher dedicated to books that inspire and challenge us to improve the quality of our lives and the world. She is the host of 
Katharine Sands has worked with a varied list of authors who publish a diverse array of books including fiction, memoir and non-fiction. Among the books she represents are: The Apothecary’s Curse, nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in the First Novel category by Barbara Barnett and its sequel, Alchemy of Glass; Girl Walks Out of a Bar, a memoir by Lisa Smith that was featured by People Magazine as Notable Nonfiction and I’m Speaking: Every Woman’s Guide to Finding Your Voice and Using It Fearlessly by Jessica Doyle-Mekkes. Katharine likes books that have a clear benefit for readers’ lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. When reading fiction, she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling and hooked by characters. For memoir, femoir, and himoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed. She is the agent provocateur of Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye, a collection of pitching wisdom from leading literary agents.
Laurie McLean spent 20 years as the CEO of a publicity and marketing agency and 8 years as an agent and senior agent at Larsen Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco. Following a stint as the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley public relations agency bearing her name, Laurie switched gears to immerse herself in writing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the State University of New York and a master’s degree at Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism.
Born in Port-au-Prince, M.J. Fievre, B.S. Ed, is a longtime educator whose publishingcareer began as a teenager in her native Haiti. At nineteen years old, she signed her first book contract with Hachette-Deschamps for the publication of a YA book titled La Statuette Maléfique. Since then, M.J. has released nine YA books in French that are widely read in Europe and the French Antilles, and she is the author of the award-winning Badass Black Girl book series for tweens and teens (in English). As the ReadCaribbean program coordinator for the prestigious Miami Book Fair, M.J. directs and produces the children’s cultural show Taptap Krik? Krak! In addition, M.J. serves as the managing editor of DragonFruit, which publishes high-quality children’s books, which connect with readers by paving the way to lifelong learning.
Georgia Hughes is the editorial director at 
Mary E Knippel is an intuitive writing mentor, international speaker, best-selling author, and journalist for over 35 years. She helps women bring their transformational stories to life in the international bestselling Amazon collaboration book series “Written In Her Own Words-Wise Woman Wisdom”. Mary guides her clients through every aspect of the writing journey, from identifying their story to crafting and editing it into their chapter to bringing their stories to the world. She believes everyone has a unique story to tell and encourages daily journaling.
Dawn Frederick is the owner of Red Sofa Literary, established in 2008. After earningher B.S. in Human Ecology and M.S. in Library and Information Sciences, she moved to the Twin Cities, to work for a publisher after many years working in indie and chain bookstores. She previously worked at Sebastian Literary Agency and co-founded the MN Publishing Tweet Up (a community social monthly meetup). She has been on the Board of Directors for Loft Literary and was once President of the Twin Cities Community Advisory Council for MPR. Wearing both the hat of librarian and agent, she brings an extensive knowledge and appreciation of the publishing and writing processes.
Michael Larsen co-founded Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972. For over four decades, the agency sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers and imprints. The agency has stopped accepting new writers, but Mike loves helping all writers. He gives talks about writing and publishing and does author coaching.
Rachel Hiles is a Senior Editor at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. She acquires and edits a wide-range of visually-driven Lifestyle titles, including books on personal growth, nature, mindfulness, parenting, women’s empowerment, and gardening.
Natalie Obando is a graduate from California State University, Long Beach with a BA in journalism emphasizing public relations and a minor concentration in creative writing. For nearly two decades, she’s worked in the world of books as a book publicist. Natalie is the founder of Do Good Public Relations Group and the grassroots organization, Women of Color Writers Podcast and Programming. She is the current national president of the 105 years old non-profit, the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA), overseeing all eleven chapters across the nation. As the first Latina president of the national organization, her goal has been promoting diversity in publishing via strategic grassroots efforts. Her dedication to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the book world led her to found and chair Authentic Voices—a four-month long program that immerses people from marginalized communities in a master class of writing, editing, marketing, and publishing.
Viveca Shearin is a co-publisher of Not a Pipe Publishing, an indie publishing house based in Oregon (though she lives and works in NYC). An avid reader since childhood, her tastes in books have changed throughout the years. However, she is still a lover of fantasy, magic, and all things dark and mysterious. As she searches for her new talent, Viveca is looking for YA and Adult fiction projects in these genres: fantasy, speculative, paranormal, supernatural, mystery and thriller, science fiction, and retellings of fairy tales and mythology (Greek and Japanese). Viveca is especially interested in BIPOC representation and acquiring BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ voices. She’s drawn to stories that feature strong female characters (lead and secondary), stories with a diverse and eclectic cast of characters that all shine in their own ways, stories that feature found families, and stories that stay with her long after the last page is turned. She will not read stories that feature Black trauma, abuse, or anything of that vein. So please do not send these to her. Aside from working for Not a Pipe, Viveca also works as a sensitivity reader.
Zeynep Sen graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a B.A. in Literature and Creative Writing. Following graduation, she honed her skills as an agent at the Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency. A few years later, Zeynep moved to WordLink Literary Agency, where she now works as a senior agent and foreign rights agent. At WorkLink, Zeynap represents her own lists of authors..
Peter Rubie has been in New York publishing as an agent, editor, and published writer for nearly forty years. He is the CEO of FinePrint Literary Management, a NYC based literary agency with 5 active agents, and began in publishing working as a freelance reader and freelance editor for major “Big Six” publishers (as they were then) before becoming the adult fiction editor at Walker & Co. from 1985 to 1991. He became an agent in 1992 and formed his own agency in 1998.
Leland Cheuk is a MacDowell and Hawthornden Castle Fellow and award-winning author of three books of fiction, most recently the novel NO GOOD VERY BAD ASIAN (2019). Cheuk’s work has been covered in Buzzfeed, The Paris Review, VICE, San Francisco Chronicle, and has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as NPR, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, among other outlets.
Georgia Hughes is editorial director at 
Aya de León is an award-winning author of nine novels and a creative writing teacher at UC Berkeley. She is the acquiring editor for Fighting Chance Books, the new climate justice fiction imprint at She Writes Press. Fighting Chance will published novels for adults by writers of all genders that tell stories of people taking collective action in the here and now to solve the climate crisis. She is currently acquiring titles for their 2023/24/25 lists and is eager to take pitches from both agented or unagented authors.
Michael Larsen co-founded Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972. For over four decades, the agency sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers and imprints. The agency has stopped accepting new writers, but Mike loves helping all writers. He gives talks about writing and publishing and does author coaching.
Eric Lincoln Miller is the founder of 3ibooks Literary Agency in Reno, Nevada. 3ibooks is a different kind of literary agency that solely focuses on authors and their needs. Their agency looks for fiction of any genre (romance, horror, mystery/crime, women’s fiction, erotica, science fiction, historical, and fantasy).
Camille Kantor is an agent at Kimberley Cameron & Associates. She completed her master’s degree in evolutionary biology and graduated from the renowned Columbia Publishing Program at Oxford.
Kat Georges is co-director of Three Rooms Press, a trade publisher based in New York City driven by diversity, dada, punk, and passion. Founded in 1994, it has more than 100 titles currently in print, including LGBTQ+ young adult fiction, genre fiction, especially literary-leaning mystery and science fiction by diverse authors, biographies of significant women and people of color that history has overlooked. In addition, the press publishes an annual journal of contemporary dada writing and art. Three Rooms Press welcomes authors of all ages and career points; its youngest author was 16 at the time his book came out; its oldest author is nearing 90. Kat is currently looking for LGBTQ+ fiction and young adult fiction that deal directly with current anti-queer attitudes, mystery that centers on bold and daring diverse main characters, and riveting women of history who need to have more attention given to them. An author and poet, as well as graphic designer and editor, Kat welcomes voices that have something different to say, that inspire readers, and that show the power of innovative, compelling writing. To see the latest Three Rooms Press releases, visit 
Johanna Maaghul, a two decade career as a technologist and business analyst, Johanna continues to dedicate her time to her real childhood passion of reading and (now later in life) midwifing into the world non-fiction books. Her deep ability to recognize value in new concepts and quickly sift out meaning in today’s vastly growing sea of non-fiction are skills she has refined through her many years of reading, writing and coaching successful writers and artists. With deep industry experience in online marketing, web content development and digital publishing, Johanna combines her career expertise to help promote authors as well as assist them in navigating the rapidly changing worlds of traditional and digital publishing. While Johanna’s primary focus is on non-fiction, she has been known to take on works of fiction when she can’t put them down. Visit her agency: 
I will always be incredibly grateful to WNBA-SF for the Pitch-O-Rama. Several years ago, I was struggling to get an agent. I had a toddler at home, and I was sure I had missed the boat. Here in the Bay Area, there are many talented writers, but very little of the literary industry is local. There were big pitch conferences in New York and other parts of the US. But at the time, I couldn’t travel because I had such limited time and money as a new mom. I was pining away on my computer, querying agents and drowning in the isolation. 
Jim Azevedo is the marketing director at 
Associate Agent Karly Caserza was born in the Phillipines and immigrated to Northern California as a child. She obtained her Business Marketing degree and has been a Freelance Graphic Designer for over 10 years. In addition to designing a wide range of print and web promotional material for clients. Karly creates book covers for Short Fuse and promotional graphics for Fuse authors. Professionally, Karly began her career in the publishing industry as a reader for Tricia Skinner at Fuse Literary, a role that also included a spot on the production team of Short Fuse. Karly is also the Marketing Coordinator of the San Francisco Writer’s Conference. In her spare time, Karly has a deep love for characters with a strong voice and seeks out stories she can get lost in. Diversity in genre fiction is a major bonus. She specializes in middle grade and young adult genre fiction (fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary.)
Georgia Hughes is editorial director at 
Brenda Knight began her career at HarperCollins, working with luminaries Paolo Coelho, Marianne Williamson and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Knight was awarded IndieFab’s Publisher of the Year in 2014 at the ALA, American Library Association. Knight is the author of Wild Women and Books, The Grateful Table, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation, which won an American Book Award. Knight is Editorial Director at Mango Publishing and acquires for all genres in fiction and nonfiction, LGBTQ as well as children and photography books. She is the immediate past President of the Women’s National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter, and an instructor at the annual San Francisco Writers Conference.
Michael Larsen co-founded Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972. Over four decades, the agency sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers and imprints. The agency has stopped accepting new writers, but Mike loves helping all writers. He gives talks about writing and publishing, and does author coaching. He wrote How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent, and coauthored Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. Mike is co-director of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference.
Michele Martin is an editor and literary agent specializing in non-fiction and children’s books. Previous experience includes acting as VP for North Star Way (imprint for Simon & Schuster) where she acquired award-winning actress Keke Palmer’s book I Don’t Belong to You in 2017, as well as finding MDM Management, specializing in topics such as business, health & wellness, and self-help.
Kristen Moeller, MS, is an agent at Waterside Productions, the literary home of Eckhart Tolle, Neale Donald Walsch, Jean Houston and other luminaries. Previously, she was an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing and the executive publisher for Persona Publishing, a self-publishing imprint. With close to 30 years of training and experience in psychology and personal growth, she craves discovering new (mostly female) authors with real and gritty memoir or literary fiction about walking through the fires of life – exploring depths and darkness while maintaining a strong psychological base. A published author and a three time TEDx speaker, she has been featured on NPR, ABC, NBC, Fox News, the New York Times, Huffington Post and Tiny House Nation.
Stefanie Molina is an agent and editor who specializes in titles written by authors and for communities of color. Since 2013, she has helped edit various fiction and non-fiction from children’s books to memoirs in order to help authors reach the highest caliber to develop their creative work. Some of her previous experience includes over 5 years as Senior Editor at Brink Literacy Project, whose mission is to share storytelling that empowers underserved communities, and is currently an agent at Ladderbird Literary Agency. 
Liz Nealon is the founder and president of Great Dog Literary, a publishing company specializing in sharing unique voices for both adults and children. In her previous life, she was an award-winning executive producer and children’s media industry leader who played an integral role in shaping the indelible youth brands Sesame Street, Kidz Bop, and MTV, as well as being the former Publisher of StarWalk Kids Media, an award-winning digital publishing company that she co-founded with author Seymour Simon (2012-2016). Liz has unique and specific experience in children’s digital publishing, with extensive knowledge of the US Schools & Libraries sector. She is a big reader of both non-fiction and literary fiction, and is particularly looking for Modern Women’s Fiction (no fantasy or Regency); True Crime with a strong, literary voice; memorable Narrative Non-Fiction; Art/Illustrated titles for adults; Illustrated Middle Grade (both fiction and non-fiction). She is committed to representing diverse voices and would be over the moon if she could acquire a captivating LGBTQ RomCom for YA readers.
Randy Peyser sells non-fiction manuscripts in all genres and speaks nationally about how to get book deals. She also serves on faculty for CEO Space International where she teaches about writing book proposals. She is the author of: The Write-a-Book Program; Crappy to Happy as featured in the movie, Eat Pray Love; and The Power of Miracle Thinking. Her clients’ books have been in Oprah and Time Magazines, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller Lists, in airport bookstores, Office Max and FedEx/Office stores, and on Hallmark TV. Her work is featured in: Healing the Heart of the World; The Marriage of Sex and Spirit; Secrets of Shameless Self-Promoters; and the national bestsellers, Networking Magic, Guerrilla Publicity, and The Profit of Kindness. 
Leah Pierre is a literary agent and production manager who loves diverse and unique work that is fast paced and has a complex cast of diverse characters. After graduating from Rosemont College with her B.A. in English and History and currently finishing her Master’s in Publishing, she has moved back to the South to begin her next adventure. In addition to searching for the next commercial YA or Adult project that will hook her (or make her cry), Leah is looking for YA/Crossover/Adult fiction across speculative, contemporary, romance, mystery/thriller, and fairytale reimaginings and retellings. She currently works at Ladderbird Literary Agency and is the Production Project Manager at Greenleaf Book Group: https://www.ladderbird.com/leah-pierre.html
Marthine Satris is the Acquisitions Editor for Heyday, a nonprofit publisher located in Berkeley, CA. Having worked as an editor and writer for Stanford University Press, Callisto Media, and the Center of the Art of Translation, Marthine’s main goal is to help shape a title with an eye on the fine detail. At Heyday, some of the books she has edited include Charles Hood, Marni Fylling, Mary Clare and Gary Ferguson, John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren, Alex Harris, Jack Gedney, and David Harris, with more to come. Marthine is acquiring prescriptive books, reference books, narrative nonfiction, literary essays, and, for Heyday, quirky books on Californian history, our natural world, and social justice.
Brooke Warner
Viveca Shearin is a co-publisher of Not a Pipe Publishing, an indie publishing house based in Oregon (though she lives and works in NYC). An avid reader since childhood, her tastes in books have changed throughout the years. However, she is still a lover of fantasy, magic, and all things dark and mysterious. As she searches for her new talent, Viveca is looking for YA and Adult fiction projects in these genres: fantasy, speculative, paranormal, supernatural, mystery and thriller, science fiction, and retellings of fairy tales and mythology (Greek and Japanese). Viveca is especially interested in BIPOC representation and acquiring BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ voices. She’s drawn to stories that feature strong female characters (lead and secondary), stories with a diverse and eclectic cast of characters that all shine in their own ways, stories that feature found families, and stories that stay with her long after the last page is turned. She will not read stories that feature Black trauma, abuse, or anything of that vein. So please do not send these to her. Aside from working for Not a Pipe, Viveca also works as a sensitivity reader.
Leticia Gomez