Author
National award-winning author of psychology memoirs and the Desert of Dreams coming-of-age series, set in California’s High Desert. Member of the California Writers Club and Southern California Writers Association.
Speaking
Amanda LaPera is an award-winning author, educator, and mental health advocate available for virtual and in-person speaking engagements.
A credible voice for complex conversations.
Amanda brings together lived family experience, award-winning memoir, classroom experience, mental health advocacy, and fiction rooted in trauma, resilience, courage, and hope.
Educator
English teacher with more than two decades of classroom experience and two-time La Quinta High School Teacher of the Year, helping students develop their writing, critical thinking, resilience, voice, and sense of purpose.
Advocate
Mental-health advocate who served for ten years on the Board of Directors of NAMI Orange County.
Audience Fit
Programs Shaped for the Audience and Occasion
Amanda is available for keynote speeches, presentations, interactive workshops, author conversations, panel discussions, and virtual programs.
Universities, Medical Schools & Mental-Health Programs
Programs exploring serious mental illness, family systems, caregiving, anosognosia, medical humanities, and the impact of mental illness on individuals and families through lived experience and memoir.
Businesses, Professional & Community Organizations
Presentations on resilience, mental health, overcoming adversity, and the power of personal story for conferences, employee programs, professional development, and community events. Programs may be adapted for in-person or virtual delivery and can incorporate interactive activities.
Libraries, Bookstores & Reader Events
Featured author presentations, panel discussions, library and bookstore talks, book-club discussions, classroom visits, community conversations, and book signings connected to memoir, fiction, resilience, storytelling, and hope.
Speaking Topics
Stories That Educate, Connect, and Inspire
Amanda grounds her speeches through personal stories. Topics can be adapted for professional, academic, community, or literary audiences.
Mental Illness and the Family
How severe mental illness, anosognosia, caregiving, uncertainty, grief, and hope shape family systems.
Together is Better
How care coordination among providers, family members, and individuals can improve understanding, support, and outcomes.
Who You Are Today Is Not Who You Will Be
Motivational programs for audiences, including young adults, about resilience, growth, and refusing to let hardship define the future.
Resilience in the Desert of Dreams
Coming-of-age fiction, California’s High Desert, and stories of young people finding courage, developing resilience, and overcoming adversity.
Writing Memoir: Finding the Heart of the Story
Consider the purpose behind the story and shape lived experience through narrative focus, character and story arcs, point of view, plot, pacing, and emotional truth.
After the Manuscript: Choosing a Path to Publication
Explore traditional, hybrid, and independent publishing options and the practical decisions writers face once a manuscript is complete.
Speaker Materials
Resources for Event Hosts
Biographical information, media materials, interview questions, book information sheets, and other event-support resources are available on the Media Kit & Press page.
Programs may be adapted for 20-minute presentations, one-hour talks, or customized event formats.
View Media & Event ResourcesBooking Contact
Invite Amanda to Speak
For speaking availability, event fit, scheduling, and professional booking details, contact Amanda's publicist, Dionne Veselko at Adamo Press.
Please include event date, location or virtual format, audience, topic of interest, expected attendance, and any book-sales or signing details.
Contact Dionne VeselkoSpeaking Experience
Previous Appearances
Amanda has presented for conferences, mental-health organizations, community forums, schools, libraries, author and reader events, and creative-writing programs—before audiences both large and small. Book signings can be incorporated into many programs.
March 2026
Littlerock High School and Lake Los Angeles School
Guest speaker for Who You Are Today Is Not Who You Will Be, a motivational program for students and staff.
May 2019
Aware & Alert: A Forum on Mental Health of Children and Teens
Panelist and speaker for a community forum hosted by Children's Hospital of Orange County, Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'a lot, and NAMI-OC.
February 2018
Community Presentation of the Annual Conditions of Children Report
Speaker on navigating systems from a parent's perspective on the topics of overcoming systemic barriers and bridging the gaps in care.
2014–2017
NAMI California and NAMI National Conferences
Panelist and workshop presenter on family experience, care coordination, and mental health in high schools.
2014–2018
Meeting of the Minds Conference
Workshop presenter on family-consumer-provider care coordination and the role of families as an untapped resource.
October 2015
The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church
Speaker for a Saddleback Church-hosted event on helping families cope and support loved ones living with mental illness.
More speaking experience
April 2018
NAMI Orange County Knowledge Forum
Speaker for Together is Better at Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach, California.
August 2017
NAMI California Conference
Panelist and workshop presenter for Mental Health in High Schools.
August 2015
NAMI California Conference
Panelist and workshop presenter for Together is Better: Family-Consumer-Provider Care Coordination.
July 2015
NAMI National Conference
Presenter for Untapped Resources: The Consumer's Family.
July 2014
Fullerton Unitarian Congregation
Featured speaker for The Mentally Ill Patient's Family: An Untapped Resource.
March 2013
Orange County Speakers Bureau
Delivered speech on The Age 18 Cliff: Dangerously Close to the Edge of Homeless & Incarceration.
Additional Event Formats
Library, school, and community talks.
Amanda welcomes invitations for library and bookstore talks, classroom visits, book-club discussions, community conversations, and book signings.
View Events