About

Rieko Mendez grew up on Japanese folk tales and Disney fairy tales straddling across cultures. She went onto earn a bachelors and masters at Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Business. Always a storyteller, her journey as a wishing star finally led her to cast off her 25-year corporate career and to don on her mantle as a writer.

Rieko mentors teen girls in underserved communities on writing while volunteering at WriteGirl, an organization that promotes creativity and self-expression to empower girls. She volunteers her writing tips at her local library.

As board chair for Ready, Set, Read, a local literacy nonprofit, she co-authored literacy articles for the 2020 LA Times Reading By 9 Guide.

Her favorite question to her two boys, if you had a super power, what would it be and what would you do with it?

She believes in imagination, the power of words and the magic of stories.

Favorites:

• friendships

• leather-bound books

• legends from around the world

• dragons and fae

• star-filled midnight blue skies

• libraries and bookstores

• Muir Redwoods

• fortune cookies

• grain bowls

• stories

• smiles

Publications & Awards:

Fiction

• Petals falling, Voyage YA Anthology, 2023

Articles

• Creativity Takes a Community, SCBWILA KiteTales, 8/18/2021

• What to Take on Your Writer’s Journey#1: Find Your Communities of Writers, SCBWILA KiteTales, 12/8/2021

• What to Take on Your Writer’s Journey#2: Ask Why Must You Write This Book, SCBWILA KiteTales, 1/5/2022

• What to Take on Your Writer’s Journey#3: Be Ready to Nix Your Darlings, SCBWILA KiteTales, 2/9/2022

Awards

• Voyage Anthology Contest, Winner, 2022