Francisca Orellana Polanka
Small Business Owner, Writer, and Mother in Golden Isles, GA United States
Moved from Chile as a teenager to discover social and educational justice in California. Became a community organizer and advocate at the young age of 16 and has been committed to policy advocacy ever since. She has spoken at various conferences about environmental justice, specifically the effects of Ultra Fine PM in vulnerable communities of color around the U.S./Mexico region. Fran studied anthropology and sociology at University of California Santa Cruz and has done research at the Center of Behavior Evolution and Culture and the experimental anthropology lab at UCLA and has traveled to Cusco, Peru to study Andean history and culture.
Her love for indigenous cultures has led her to become a children's educational writer. Author of over a dozen books on indigenous languages, wildlife conservation and poetry, Fran is the proud owner of Oveja Negra Kids, an inclusive book publishing company that offers braille, and indigenous languages as well as standard English-Spanish versions of their books.
When Fran is not writing, researching, illustrating, or kayaking, she is spending time with her family and dogs at her home in Coastal Georgia.