Young Storytellers
Andrea Ohlsen-Esparza is an experienced professional in youth engagement and education, currently serving as the Director of Volunteer Engagement and Secondary Education Programs at Young Storytellers since August 2021. Previous roles at Young Storytellers include Program Director for Middle & High School Stories and Middle & High School Programs Strategist. Prior to this, Andrea coordinated the Bold Ink Writers Program at WriteGirl, focusing on empowering systems-impacted youth through creative writing. Experience also includes administrative support at LA's BEST Afterschool Enrichment Program and engagement initiatives for LA's BEST alumni as an AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow. Andrea's early career involved teaching early learning skills at the Boys and Girls Club of Garden Grove. Andrea holds a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from California State University-Dominguez Hills.
Young Storytellers
Young Storytellers sparks creative self-discovery through storytelling. Our programs highlight young people as the center of their own narratives, emphasize that their stories matter, and celebrate their unique voices as the ones telling them. In elementary school, we use storytelling to help young people explore their creativity and imagination. In middle school, we use storytelling to explore their goals for the future and what challenges might stand in their way. In high school, we use storytelling to explore the impact their voice can have in their community - and, more broadly, the world. Young Storytellers works towards a future where young people experience, through the stories they write, the impact that their thoughts, feelings, and words can have on the world in which they live. We raise voices, one story at a time.