Meet the Team: Amanda Collins

In our 'Meet the Team' series Executive Director and Board President Amanda Collins gives some very interesting answers to the questions we posed to her. Read this short Q&A to find out what she had to say.

What do you love most about managing Access Books Bay Area?

AC: I founded ABBA in 2016 because I wanted a way for my students to make an impact on their own Bay Area community — this was originally an idea for a service project for my Palo Alto middle school students. I also wanted to provide for children living in low-income areas the same benefit that I had growing up. I was one of five children in a single parent home, living on welfare and aid to families with dependent children. The only way I got reading materials after I exhausted the small number of books in my home was from my school library. The public library was too far away and my mom didn’t like to take us there because she didn’t want to pay for lost or overdue books. But I had an amazing school library, and I read so many of the books in it. And that love of reading gave me the life I have now. So in addition to getting to work with a fabulous team of incredibly dedicated volunteer staff, I do this in order to make that same difference for other kids like me. We all deserve to have high quality school libraries that inspire a love of reading, and the work we do really does make that difference.

Fun fact about you:

AC: I have been a semi-professional swing dancer since I was young, and I was once a dancer in a Jonas Brothers music video when I was getting my Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science at UCLA.

What's your favorite childhood book?

AC: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

Stay tuned for the next Q&A with a member of our very special team. We are working hard to bridge the literacy gap in the Bay Area. Check out our website for more details.