Regional Manager

Kimberly Faith Waid is Writopia’s Los Angeles regional manager, where she is an educator, registrar, marketing lead, school coordinator, and manager of the amazing parent community. For over thirteen years, she has taught creative writing, Language Arts/English, and arts enrichment to all age-levels and is thrilled to share her experience with other writers. In addition to her teaching experience, Kimberly worked for five years with the founder of The Moth, George Dawes Green, on The Unchained Tour, a storytelling series which brought storytellers and musicians to small towns across the American South to support local literary communities and their independent bookstores. Prior to that role, she was the Events Manager of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. At Writopia, in addition to creative writing, she teaches screenwriting, drawing on her experience as a script coverage consultant for high-level filmmakers and on the set of Breaking Bad. She holds a BFA in Media and Performing Arts from Savannah College of Art & Design and an MFA from New York University, where she was selected as a Goldwater Fellow. Her written work has appeared in Abe’s Penny, Metromix LA, and ArtSlant. She's twice been a resident in fiction writing at Vermont Studio Center where she began work on a historical novel set primarily in her home state of Alabama.

Program Manager
Head Instructor

Lyndsay joined the Writopia team in September 2014, and there is nothing she values more than helping young writers find their voice. As head instructor and program manager, she looks forward to training instructors and developing strategies that best serve our writers.

Lyndsay earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, where she worked as the managing editor of the program's literary journal. Her narrative essays, poetry, and journalism have appeared in online and print journals, such as Little Fiction | Big Truths, juked, Lunch Ticket, b(OINK),The Avalon Literary Review, xoJane, Design District Magazine, and elsewhere. In addition to her master's degree, Lyndsay has attended Bread Loaf in Sicily (2016), the Slice Literary Conference (2013), and New York University's Writers in New York program (2012). She has taken classes through the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop in New York and worked as the first reader of manuscript submissions at Union Literary. Lyndsay is now at work on a novel and a multimedia project involving mental illness. She also hosts a reading series with her Los Angeles-based organization, Sevilla Writers House.

Instructor

It’s been such a joy for Dara to be a part of the Writopia family for the past few years. She is a playwright, a screenwriter, and a novelist who received her MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Dramatic Writing Program. In addition to teaching creative writing, screenwriting, playwriting, poetry, essay writing, and creative nonfiction, she is an advocate for youth literacy outreach and has worked as a reading and writing tutor and mentor for children with special needs. She also had the great pleasure of teaching theatre at the middle school level and coordinated productions of original one-act plays, written, directed and performed by brilliantly talented 8th grade students. Her experience working with students of all ages lead her back to school to earn a secondary education credential in English/Language Arts.

Instructor

Instructor

Michelle Meyers is a writer from Los Angeles, CA. Her short stories have been published or are forthcoming in Juked, decomP, Split Lip Magazine, Monkeybicycle, and jmww, among others, and her articles and essays have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Writer’s Digest, PopSugar, Atticus Review, and The Adroit Journal. She has received awards and honors from Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and Wigleaf and was a 2015 PEN Center Emerging Voices Fellow. Her debut novel, Glass Shatters, was released in April 2016 by She Writes Press and selected as an Editor’s Pick in Literary Fiction by Foreword Reviews. She is a graduate of the University of Alabama’s MFA program in Creative Writing and is currently at work on a book of short stories, a second novel, and a Black Mirror-esque television pilot.

Assistant Instructor

After interning with Writopia last summer, Lee Eisen is excited to lead workshops in Los Angeles this fall. Lee graduated from the University of Miami (FL) in December 2016 with departmental honors in Creative Writing. "Tens in the Dark", one of the short stories from Lee's senior thesis, was published in Mangrove Literary Journal, which receives hundreds of submissions from undergraduate students around the country. Lee's experience spans multiple genres and disciplines. He was a contributing writer for his college newspaper, The Miami Hurricane. He also worked as a production assistant for the ABC television series, The Goldbergs. Lee plans to pursue an MFA degree in fiction, teach higher education, and publish a collection of short stories. Lee is incredibly excited to help kids learn the fundamentals of writing, with an emphasis on the "fun!"

Instructor

Michelle Kim Hall is thrilled to be a part of the Writopia community and is committed to honoring young voices and the power of self-expression. She believes that writing is serious fun. She wrote her first poem at age five after breaking her arm: "casts are white / paper can tear / this thing hurts / more than you care." She hasn't stopped writing since. After graduating summa cum laude from UCLA with a concentration in creative writing, she went on to earn her JD from Harvard Law School. Her thesis explored a troubling human rights issue through the short story form. Michelle practiced law in both California and New York before deciding to return to academia. She got an MFA in fiction from New York University, where she taught creative and expository writing. Her poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in periodicals including The Rumpus, Open Letters Monthly, and The Margins. With almost two decades of teaching experience, Michelle loves working with writers of all ages.

Instructor

Instructor

Angela is thrilled to join the Writopia Lab family as an instructor this summer. Angela Johnson-Rogers is a writer, poet, and educator. She grew up in the heart of New York City where she first fell in love with poetry, fiction, lyric, prose, rhythm, rhyme, and storytelling. As a teen, she was encouraged to explore her voice as a writer. These early years shaped and deepened her love of words and her desire to work with kids. Angela earned her BA, and later her MSEd in Education from Fordham University and her MFA from City College of New York. She taught for a decade as part of the public education system and published several poems at City College in various literary magazines including Global City Review and Promethean. She is working on a pilot about her time as a public school teacher, she recently completed her first picture book, and she's placing finishing touches on a poetry collection.

Instructor

Madeline is so excited to join the Writopia Lab team this summer! She has been crafting stories, essays, screenplays, and poetry since she learned to write. Her stack of diaries is roughly the height of an average first grader. She received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and has had her work published in a variety of literary magazines. She is the founder of the reading series Sundays at Erv's, and in August 2019, her debut novel will be released from Ecco Press. She has also worked as a nanny for seven years and taught creative writing to middle and high school students through Columbia's Writer As Teacher Program and the former DC nonprofit WVSA Arts Connection.

Instructor

Dav Yendler is excited to work with young writers at Writopia Lab! He is an illustrator and writer living in Los Angeles. Originally from Northern California, Dav has spent the last decade in Louisville, London, and Chicago working as a theatre director, graphic novelist, and illustrator. Most recently, he collaborated with BuzzFeed Video to create an animated adaption of his visual essay MY BOD, which tackles mental health and body image issues. Illustration clients include the Los Angeles Tourism Bureau, the University of Chicago, and Groupon. He was previously a comics contributor to The Hairpin and is currently working on a graphic novel about guns in America.

Instructor

Sarah is beyond excited to be an instructor at Writopia Lab and looks to her mother and grandmother, both longtime educators, as her teaching inspiration. When she's not at Writopia, Sarah is a freelance writer and enthusiastic consumer of books, movies, and things on the internet. Her short fiction has been published in Forth Magazine and The Oyez Review, and her nonfiction and journalism have been published in Man Repeller and Willamette Week. She is also at work on a screenplay. Sarah graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and a concentration in gender studies. Previously, she lived in New York, where she worked at Time Inc. and Condé Nast.

Filmmaking Instructor

Brendan is excited for the opportunity to guide young filmmakers at Writopia Lab as they begin their own cinematic journeys with their unique voices. His own love for cinema began when he was in middle school! He’s a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking, where he studied Film Directing and has taught film to younger generations at their summer camps. He’s written and produced critically acclaimed independent films including Dance Party USA, the Spirit Award-nominated Quiet City, and Cold Weather. In 2013, he co-wrote and produced the short documentary, The Great Imposter, as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. It was among the group of documentaries awarded a Primetime Emmy in 2014 for Outstanding Short-Format Nonfiction Program. Brendan is currently developing projects for film and television.

Instructor

Salma loves teaching at Writopia Lab and helping young writers give voice to their imagination and emotions! When she's not teaching, reading, or brewing large quantities of chai, she blogs about self-development, travel, and the realities of being Muslim in the Western world on her blog, https://salamfromsalma.com/. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and International Politics in 2015, shortly after which she made the leap from her hometown in Melbourne, Australia to Los Angeles! Salma is currently working on a historical fiction novel.

Assistant Instructor

Brady couldn't be more excited to join the Writopia Lab team as an assistant instructor. Brady graduated Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL, where he spent his time studying for classes in a hammock on the beach. After earning his BA in Creative Writing, Brady worked in podcasting for WBEZ, Chicago, and as an Associate Producer for the PleasureTown show, a fictional narrative podcast set in Old West Oklahoma. In Chicago, Brady studied comedy and won the Second City Original Sitcom competition and placed in a few others as well. Brady can't wait to use his experience to inspire Writopians.

Intern

Lynn is looking forward to working with and getting inspired by fellow young writers at Writopia Lab, something she values more than anything else. She is a rising sophomore at Hamilton College, where she serves as a freelance writer for the communications team and an editor on the literary magazine. She has received honors from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her poetry, and she plans to concentrate in creative writing. She was the editor of her high school newspaper, which received recognition from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. For four years, she participated in a program called "CREW" (Creative Writing Experiential Workshop), teaching creative writing to students in grades 2-5 at schools that offer few creative outlets or opportunities. She is excited to expand on this work this summer as a Writopia Lab intern!