Who We Are

Sarah Baker is the Executive Director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She joined the SCBWI staff in 2011, and most recently held the position of Associate Executive Director. Her career in children’s book publishing began at Penguin Young Readers Group, where she designed children’s books for six years. Sarah leads the SCBWI staff and works closely with the Board of Directors, the Advisory Council, and the official SCBWI volunteers. She graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara with a major in Studio Art and is a children’s book illustrator and ceramicist. Her favorite part of working for SCBWI is seeing the community flourish and the members thrive as artistic creators.

Tammy directs the SCBWI’s marketing and advertising to members, the trade, and consumer press,  as well as cultivating member benefits, partnerships, and sponsorships for the organization. Tammy is responsible for advertising and promotions, website data analysis, and member acquisition and retention. She has marketing and branding experience in publishing, media, entertainment, and technology while holding positions at The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon, Marvel, and Technicolor. Tammy also sits on the board of directors of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit LA Commons. Tammy holds a BA in communications from the City University of New York, Queens College, a certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion management from the University of South Florida, Muma College of Business, and a certificate in Design Thinking from the University of California, Riverside.

Kim is responsible for programming both National Conferences, digital workshop slates and special events. She’s editor-in-chief of the SCBWI’s yearly publication, The Book: An Essential Guide to Children’s Publishing.  Kim writes the monthly “Exclusive Interview” column in INSIGHT, showcasing editors and agents as well as compiling SCBWI success stories. developing relationships and maintaining relationships within the children’s publishing community. Kim is a young adult author. Her debut novel Just a Normal Tuesday, edited by Kate Egan for new YA imprint KCP Loft, debuted in 2017 followed by a novelization of Carmilla at the same imprint. She also wrote and produced an award-winning web series. She earned a BA in Child Development from Florida State University and an MA in Interpersonal and Intercultural Communications from FSU.

Sarah oversees the SCBWI’s numerous awards and grant programs, developing scholarships and grant opportunities for the kidlit community. They also serve as editor of the Insight newsletter, and manager of PRO Insider, among other publications. They maintain and contribute content to the SCBWI website. Sarah graduated from Emerson College in 2014 with a BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing, and has been published in LA Weekly.

TeMika manages graphics and illustrations produced to support the organization.  She also provides logistical help with illustration-focused membership benefits and event programming.  As a long-time volunteer of the SCBWI with a love for writing and illustrating children’s books, TeMika has volunteered for the organization at many levels supporting others with the same passion for developing the craft. Her latest illustrated book by Senator Raphael G. Warnock will be released by Philomel Books in November 2023.  Learn more about her work at her website.

Laurie organizes the SCBWI’s national conferences and webinars.  She is also a writer-at-large for SCBW’s publications, maintaining a column in Pro Insider and contributing regularly to INSIGHT. In addition, Laurie helms the organization’s benefits for members who self-publish. She is Editor-in Chief of the Essential Guild to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book and the SCBWI liaison with the Alliance of Independent Authors.  Laurie is also an editor of SCBWI’s new book, The Haunted States of America (Laura Godwin Books/Henry Holt).  Laurie comes to the SCBWI family with a background in screenwriting, particularly documentary films. She has written documentary scripts on everything from stolen inventions to reincarnation – topics that seem to find their way into her own writing.

Chelsea manages the SCBWI’s social media accounts. She crafts content and promotes the work of our members to nearly 100,000 total followers across the platforms each week. They worked at Chronicle Books prior to joining SCBWI.

Danielle answers emails via the ZenDesk help center and is the first on the phone, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Pacific Time). They answer questions about Zoom, mail books to award judges, and manage website content as needed. She is both a freelance and an animation writer for various groups.

Josh oversees the entire production and operation of the company website and membership database. This includes analysis, both business and systems analysis, coding and implementation of new plugins and functionality, and updating existing plugins and the site theme. (All source code is managed using Git source control.) Josh also provides adhoc database extracts for everything from member lists with complex extract criteria, to detailed statistical analysis. He advises the SCBWI staff on all technical matters involving the website, payment system, bulk email system, data extracts, content management, and integration with third party systems. Josh manages the cloud server, and the web and database servers. Josh also provides critical technical advice to our worldwide network of regional teams to help them manage events, utilize site functions, implement access to payment systems, and many other functions both large and small.  Also, SCBWI works with a contractor for one-off projects, and Josh manages their projects and priority.

Patricia manages SCBWI’s worldwide network of Regional Teams (RTs), covering up to 80 regions and comprised of more than 300 volunteer Regional Advisors (RAs), Assistant Regional Advisors (ARAs), and Illustrator Coordinators (ICs) from around the globe. Utilizing decades of experience as a region and global-level volunteer, Patricia represents the needs and interests of all RTs to headquarters and serves as their headquarters point of contact. She works closely with the Global Regional Coordinators and their teams to create policies and procedures that keep the regions functioning smoothly. She oversees all RT communications channels, onboards new RTs, helps RTs with region and member needs, and organizes training, educational, and networking opportunities that support SCBWI’s mission, vision, and values.

Lin is the co-founder of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and served as its Executive Director since its inception in 1971 until January of 2022. For most of her SCBWI career, she was also an executive in the film and television industry, serving as Executive Vice President of MCA Universal Studios for over 12 years. She is the writer and executive producer of over 300 episodes of family television, including Harry and the Hendersons, Wayside School, and Corduroy, as well as three feature films, including The Trumpet of the Swan. During her career as a writer and producer, Lin served as Executive Director of the SCBWI as a volunteer, spending nights and weekends, and vacations in the service of SCBWI while earning her living in filmed entertainment. In 2002, Lin expanded her writing career into authoring children’s books, and since then, has published over 60 books for children from publishers such as Penguin Random House, Scholastic, and Abrams Books. Her first hit series was the New York Times best-selling Hank Zipzer books, co-authored with Henry Winkler, about a child with learning differences. The Hank books have influenced a generation of readers, with sales exceeding five million copies and a BAFTA-winning television series from the BBC. Another of her New York Times best-selling book series, Alien Superstar, also written with Henry Winkler, is currently in development as a television series. Although her body of work consists primarily of middle grade comedy/adventure novels such as Who Shrunk Daniel Funk and The Fantastic Frame, she is also the author of Little Poems for Tiny Ears, a poetry collection for very young children, illustrated by Tomie dePaola. Her work has been recognized with The Christopher Award, the National Council of Teachers of English citation, and PEN International Special Award of Recognition, The Eric Carle Mentor Award, numerous starred reviews, and Amazon’s best books of the year. During her tenure with SCBWI, Lin helped grow the organization from a handful of authors and artists to a global force of over 25,000 members and launched partnerships with leading literacy organizations such as First Book, We Need Diverse Books, and The American Library Association. She has a BA in English from UC Berkeley, a Masters in Educational Psychology from UCLA, and has completed course work for an EdD from UCLA. A prominent speaker and writer about the importance of quality children’s books, she is recognized as a leading voice in advancing literacy, advocating for the freedom to read, and promoting children’s literature.

Stephen is the co-founder of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, having begun the organization with Lin Oliver in 1971.  As President, he is responsible for overseeing all the affairs of the organization:  he creates and edits all its publications (print and digital), creates policy, manages the staff of ten, communicates with members and advises them on issues of publishing (both business and creative), is the liaison between the organization and the ACA, maintains relationships with other professional writers’ organizations like The Author’s Guild, and is the chief liaison with the group of over 120 regional advisors domestically and around the world.  He travels to regional conferences and delivers addresses on the state of children’s publishing, being a recognized authority on the subject.  He holds a Bachelor’s degree in film and a Master’s degree in journalism, both from UCLA, has published over sixty children’s books, and is the recipient of The Eric Carle Mentor Award, The Southern California Children’s Literature Council Dorothy McKenzie Award, and the Christopher Medal for The New York Kids Book. He is a frequent speaker at domestic and international conferences on issues related to children’s literature, and in particular the digital revolution and what it means for the future of children’s books.