Jesse Byrd is an international award-winning children’s book author and the youngest NPR Board member. At 6’8”, Jesse pivoted from playing basketball at UCSB to pursue his passion for storytelling. After working at Google in Silicon Valley and later EY in Dubai as Director of Communications for Middle East and North Africa, Jesse turned all of his energy toward his deepest love: making stories for youth and families with a focus on supporting diverse creators and own voices material. He’s currently written six children’s books and helped produce over 40 others as an editor, art director, and publishing consultant. Jesse is based in Los Angeles, CA.

His book, The Switch, introduces readers to a boy name Kibwe. Kibwe is the best basketball player on his second-grade team. But the success is starting to get to his head-- he’s becoming bigheaded and sort of bossy! Seeing this, Kibwe’s dad decides to do something drastic to help humble his son and teach him some lessons that’ll work on (and off) the court.