TLA 2019 Speaker Announcements
TLA is excited to announce that Sylvia Acevedo is our General Session I speaker on Tuesday, April 16, 8:15-9:45am.
Sylvia Acevedo has worn many hats: engineer at IBM, rocket scientist at NASA, award-winning entrepreneur, businesswoman, commissioner on the White House Initiative for Education Excellence for Hispanics, and, currently, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA. In PATH TO THE STARS: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist, Sylvia’s memoir aimed at young readers, she retraces her journey from a young girl in an underprivileged New Mexico neighborhood to becoming one of the most accomplished and insightful women in modern history.
As Sylvia struggled with the aftermath of loss, the difficulties of her home life, and the poverty in her neighborhood, the trajectory of her young life changed when she joined a local Brownie troop. The Girl Scouts taught her how to take control of her world and nourished her love of numbers and science. With new confidence, Sylvia navigated shifting cultural expectations at school and at home, forging her own trail to become one of the first Latinx to graduate with a master’s in engineering from Stanford University and going on to become a rocket scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Sylvia’s absorbing story of overcoming obstacles with confidence, hard work, and education is an inspiration to people of all ages. She continues her work motivating and inspiring children to achieve their dreams.
Visit her online at sylviaacevedo.org and on Twitter @SylviaAcevedo.
TLA is excited to announce that Scott Pelley is our General Session II speaker on Thursday, April 18, 8-9am.
The impeccable reputation, record-breaking accolades, and incredibly storied broadcast career of Scott Pelley have made him a standout figure in the world of journalism. His memoir, Truth Worth Telling (Hanover Square Press, an imprint of Harlequin) is a sensitive, detail-rich account filled with poignant stories that create a powerful tapestry forming a bigger picture behind the news today. Ultimately this is a collection of inspiring tales that reminds us of the importance of values in uncertain times.
Scott Pelley has been a reporter and photographer more than 45 years. He is best known for his work on 60 Minutes and as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News. Pelley’s work has been recognized with three duPont-Columbia Awards, three Peabody Awards, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, and 37 Emmy Awards. Pelley is the most awarded correspondent in the history of 60 Minutes.
TLA is excited to announce that Meg Medina is our Closing Author Session speaker on Thursday, April 18. 11:45am-1:15pm.
Meg Medina is the author of the Newbery Medal–winning book Merci Suárez Changes Gears, which was also a 2018 Kirkus Prize finalist. Her young adult novels include Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, which won the 2014 Pura Belpré Author Award; Burn Baby Burn, which was long-listed for the National Book Award; and The Girl Who Could Silence the
Wind. She is also the author of picture books Mango, Abuela, and Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez, which was a Pura Belpré Author Award Honor Book, and Tía Isa Wants a Car, illustrated by Claudio Muñoz, which won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she grew up in Queens, New York, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia.