About Alli Frank & Asha Youmans

ALLI FRANK: The robustness of a farm girl, the honed sophistication of a city woman, a dash of Jewish chutzpah, and a heaping cup of endurance athlete and voila, you have Alli Frank. Alli was raised in Yakima, WA, the only child of two parents who instilled in her that hard work coupled with a resilient spirit will take you far. So, up some of the highest mountains Alli climbed, down insanely steep terrain she skied and across long swathes of land she ran. To pay for all this adventure, Alli has worked in education for over 20 years in San Francisco and Seattle - from an overcrowded, cacophonous public high school to a pristine private girl’s school. She has been a teacher, curriculum leader, coach, college counselor, assistant head, private school co-founder, sometimes pastor, often mayor, and de facto parent therapist. A graduate of Cornell and Stanford Universities, Alli can still be found during the day skiing or running down mountains and by night with her nose deep in a book or hunkered down watching movies, never one to miss a great story. Alli lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two daughters and a terribly cute mini-Bernedoodle. When she needs good food (cause she really hates to cook) she turns to her co-author Asha Youmans. Read Alli's essays in the Moms Don't Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology, Frolic and Medium.

ASHA YOUMANS: Raised in Seattle, WA, Asha Youmans was among the first wave of girls to integrate Little League in Washington. She was also a member of a two-time city champion Double Dutch team and rode a unicycle, tumbled, and juggled as a member of a traveling circus acrobatics team. Asha is the middle child of two dedicated community service people. Her father, TJ Vassar, was a pioneer in education in Seattle and across the globe, making such an impact in diversity curriculum and inclusive practices in schools that President Obama honored his life’s work in 2012. Her mother, Lynda, was a children’s hospital administrator who insisted on her kids participating in community volunteer work. Enrolled in gifted programs while attending public school, Asha went on to graduate from one of America’s premier private academies, Lakeside School, from which her father earned a diploma as the school’s first Black graduate. After writing her own major program and graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Asha returned to Seattle where she taught in public and private schools for 20 years. Asha is a fabulous home cook who loves storytelling and connecting with others by making them smile. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Together they have two adult sons and a feisty, senior Yorkshire Terrier.

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