L’Oreal Thompson Payton is the author of Stop Waiting for Perfect: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and Into Your Power (BenBella Books, August 2023) and Amanda Gorman: Poet and Activist (Penguin Random House, Dec 2025). She is also a health and wellness reporter at Fortune where she covers women and wellness in the workplace. As a writer, L’Oreal expertly blends refreshingly confessional career and life advice with inspirational insight and just the right amount of humor. She does this by authentically and vulnerably sharing her lessons learned and imperfections while bringing her readers along with her on the journey.
Alleanna Harris is a children's book illustrator and artist from Southern New Jersey. Alleanna has been drawing for as long as she can remember. As a little kid, she would draw on every page of her mom’s legal pads, and doodle on notebooks at school and on the programs at church. She graduated from the University of the Arts with a BFA in animation with honors. During this time, she realized her love for illustration. Alleanna finds inspiration in the beauty of everyday things. In her work, she seeks to create images that are immersive, rich in color, and have a sense of warmth.
