Our Story

Going into their freshman year at Portola High School, co-founder’s Claudia Lin and Charlotte Cao knew they wanted to start a club that would combine their passions for reading and advocating for more representation in children’s books. After constant debates and discussions, they finally settled on an idea, and so the club Books of Hope was born.

The goal of this club was to to have members illustrate and write their own children’s books, which would feature children of diverse backgrounds or teach a lesson about morals. Once the books were completed, their hope was to read them to young students in local elementary schools. In March of 2020, Books of Hope was set to hold its first story time event at OC Rescue Mission that would feature characters from diverse backgrounds. However, because of COVID-19, the event had to be postponed until further notice. Because Books of Hope is an outreach program that requires in-person gatherings, Claudia and Charlotte spent months discussing how they would adjust to these circumstances.

When quarantine began, Claudia and Charlotte decided to use this time to reevaluate the purpose of Books of Hope, and quickly realized that an organization about diversity should not be limited to only one art form. While representation is important in children’s literature, representation in all storytelling mediums, from film to art to poetry, is crucial to encouraging empathy.

Because of this, Claudia and Charlotte made the decision to change Books of Hope from a singular club into an inclusive student-led initiative that focuses on BIPOC representation across all forms of art, now known as Stories Empowered.