Our Team

Founders and Advisors at The Book Truck

Elizabeth Dragga

Founder/Executive Director

A former bookseller, librarian, and education advocate, Elizabeth founded The Book Truck in 2011 in response to a lack of literacy outreach programming for teenagers. She joined forces with renowned author Cornelia Funke in 2012. Since its inception, The Book Truck has given away thousands of books to youth and young adults.

“You have been an extra-ordinary addition to our program. Your thoughtfulness, preparedness, articulation, intelligence and passion for our students was such a game changer for this group of kids. Your curriculum and approach brought out much-untapped potential and personality in all of them.” – Abby Adams, Executive Director, Determined to Succeed

The Book Truck advisors.

Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke has written bestsellers such as The Thief Lord and Inkheart Trilogy. She has also written beloved picture books such as The Princess Knight. Amongst the many awards and honors Ms. Funke has earned is being named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2005.

Adam Frankel

Adam Frankel is the librarian at Palms Middle School and previously worked at LACES, ranked the #1 high school in LA. Also, he has been a teacher at other LAUSD schools including McAlister, a high school for pregnant and parenting teens. In addition to his MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science), he has an MA in Educational Administration and an MA in International Studies.

Caroline Kunitz

Caroline Kunitz founded LA Diaper Drive in 2005, and grew it to be one of the largest diaper banks in the country, taking the unique approach of using diapers as incentive to get low-income parents into life-improving classes. In 2014, it merged with Jessica Seinfeld’s charity Baby Buggy (now GOOD+ Foundation). Now consulting with non-profits, she has a BA from UCLA, MBA from Richmond College, and MPP from USC.

Dr. Jeffery Wilhelm

Dr. Jeffery Wilhelm is Professor of English Education at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. He is a highly regarded author or co-author of 37 books about literacy and literacy education, including: Reading Unbound: Why Kids Need to Read What They Want and Why We Should Let Them.

Dr. Betsy Abrams Rich

Dr. Betsy Abrams Rich has her PhD in Anthropology. She teaches anthropology at LA area colleges and previously taught at University of Illinois-Chicago. She brings her expertise in grant writing, teaching, and curriculum development to The Book Truck.

Eva Ramirez Fogg

Eva Fogg is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who received her M.S.W. from USC with an emphasis on Community Organization, Planning and Administration. Her professional background includes being Senior Manager at Prototypes Centers for Innovation in Health, Mental Health as well as Associate Director at Association for Children’s Services Agencies. She has also worked as a Mental Health Clinician.

Ami Fields-Meyer

Ami Fields-Meyer is an aide to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.* He was previously Communications Director for California Assembly member Jesse Gabriel and is an alumnus of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs. Ami has written about issues of public policy and civil rights for The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, and The Forward. He has a BA in History and African American studies from Emory University. (*For identification purposes only)

Donnajean Ward

Donnajean Ward works in the office of the dean at the USC Price School of Public Policy Currently, she serves as a liaison to faculty and research centers within the Price School focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Ward also serves as the Price School’s liaison with USC’s Civic Engagement initiatives that support community engagement and outreach.

Dr. Julie Sandor

Dr. Julie Sandor has a PhD in Communications and taught Interpersonal Communications at Northwestern University. She has produced several independent feature films and also worked as a digital media producer, creating mobile and web applications.

Sharon Hearn

Sharon Hearn is owner of the beloved children’s bookstore, Children’s Book World, a 27 year-old Los Angeles institution. With a selection of over 80,000 titles, and a staff that tries to read as many of those titles as possible, these booksellers are dedicated to getting the right books into the hands of the right kids.

Courtney Hazlett

Courtney Hazlett is SVP of Development at OutEast Entertainment, which produces scripted and non-scripted television as well as feature films. Prior to that, Courtney spent her career in journalism. After receiving a Masters from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she was an editor at several major magazines and then worked at NBC News for nearly a decade.

Sean Griffin

Sean Griffin is a media and entertainment executive whose experience spans books, newspapers, themed entertainment, and virtual reality. He is currently President of Nomadic, an immersive entertainment company focused on leveraging technology innovations to bring the world’s most beloved stories to life. He received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and completed his undergraduate degree at Boston College.

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