Team - Idea Architects

Our Brain Trust

No matter what phase of a project, we work closely as a team to develop ideas and provide feedback to make sure the book is developing as powerfully and effectively as possible.

The visionaries we work with are often busy, and can sometimes need a collaborative writer to make the writing process more easeful, joyful, and successful. Our team includes writers that have been selected from the country’s best writing programs, and we have worked closely in cultivating and developing their skills as collaborative writers. Unlike most literary agencies, we also have an editorial director and developmental editor as full time team members to help shape our projects.

Ultimately, our goal is to deliver a book to the publisher that reaches its ideal expression and inspires readers around the world.

WHAT WE DO

Agenting
Writing
Editing
Spontaneous dance parties
Changing the world

WHAT WE DON’T DO

Stop working after selling the book
Give up
Ask for receipts
Stick to one time zone
Wait for others to change the world

OUR SUPERPOWERS

Seeing the big idea
Starting the conversation
Radical collaboration
Influence for good
Turning ideas into action

THINGS WE LOVE

Our authors
Our collaborators
Our families & friends
Being Idea Architects
Contributing to a better world

DOUG ABRAMS

founder & president

RACHEL NEUMANN

ceo & senior literary agent

SARAH RAINONE

editorial director

JANELLE JULIAN

chief of staff

TY GIDEON LOVE

director of author success

AMANDA MIKELL

director of finance and operations

BELLA ROBERTS

literary assistant

JORDAN JACKS

staff collaborative writer

KELLY MINER

finance manager

ALYSSA KNICKERBOCKER

director of writing

AMA MCKINLEY

collaborative writer

NINA ST. PIERRE

collaborative writer

ZOË GADEGBEKU

collaborative writer

BOO PRINCE

media coach

SYLVIE RABINEAU

film agent

ELIZABETH WACHTEL

film agent

ERIC RAYMAN

legal counsel

JEMMA MCDONAGH

translation rights agent

CAMILLA FERRIER

translation rights agent

RUTH SHEEROH MUREGA

transcriptionist

DOUG ABRAMS

Superpower //dreaming up life-changing, culture-changing books while falling off surfboards and training for triathlons.

Doug is the Founder & President of Idea Architects. He is a former editor at the University of California Press and HarperCollins where he spent a decade trying to balance truth (with a small “t”) and Relevance (with a big “R”). He comes from a publishing family and learned about ideas, books, and culture around the dinner table. He has had the privilege of working on books for Nobel Peace Laureates Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Jody Williams. He has written books with Desmond Tutu for over a decade and most recently is the co-author of The Book of Joy with Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. His books have been credited with convincing then-President Bill Clinton to stop genocide and for launching the modern anti-slavery movement.

He is also interested in the power of the Internet and multimedia to change culture and was on the founding team of JustGive.org, a philanthropy website that has pioneered new forms of giving and channeled over $300 million to charity.

Dialogue is key to Doug’s work, and he believes that genius is a collaborative process. His goal is to bring people together in a cultural conversation through books and media. Throughout all of his wide-ranging projects, Doug aspires to help build a prism through which life-changing conversations and experiences can be created and nourished. He has had the privilege of interviewing extraordinary global heroes including Jimmy Carter, Bono, Carlos Santana, Richard Branson, and many others.

He is the author of two novels that have been translated into over thirty languages.

He is married to Rachel Carlton Abrams, an integrative physician and the love of his life. They have three children, Jesse, Kayla, and Eliana. He can also be found riding waves where he lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Working with Doug Abrams at Idea Architects has been a wonderful joy. He is thoughtful, intelligent and really has a way of seeing the potential of a project. ~Archbishop Desmond Tutu

RACHEL NEUMANN

Superpower //making the impossible inevitable. using language to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Rachel Neumann specializes in creating books that you pick up before knowing why you picked them up and don’t put down until they’re done. For the past 15 years, she has worked in book publishing in New York and California with an emphasis on developing culture-shifting narrative nonfiction. As Publisher and Editorial Director of Parallax Press, Rachel transformed a small nonprofit into a multimillion-dollar trade publisher. She used her gift for finding books that make spiritual concepts useful to daily life to create Thich Nhat Hanh’s best-selling 8-book Mindfulness Essentials series. As the Associate Publisher and Editorial Director of Shambhala Publications, Rachel focused on developing diverse and underrepresented authors in wellness, psychology, health, politics, and creative living. She has co-created two successful children’s imprints and has worked with publishers large and small on expanding and diversifying their audiences. Rachel has been the personal editor and collaborator for internationally-revered teachers Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, as well as dozens of other best-selling authors. She is the author of four books. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, and other national and international publications. Rachel is based in the Bay Area and speaks and teaches regularly around the country. She’s happiest in the ocean, in the middle of a good book, or upside down. Not all at once.

"Thanks to Rachel’s profound understanding of my teachings, style, and voice, my message has been communicated clearly, correctly, and authentically to thousands of readers. I am deeply grateful for her skillful work and dedication.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh

SARAH RAINONE

Superpower // Putting together the puzzle pieces of a story. Polishing sentences until they shine. Occasionally mixing metaphors.

As Editorial Director of Idea Architects, Sarah draws from two decades of publishing experience to support our authors and collaborators during every stage of the book development process. As a collaborative writer, editor, and book developer, Sarah has worked with some of today’s most influential leaders and thinkers, including Dan Pink, Eric Ries, and Gero Leson of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps. As an editor at Doubleday and senior editor at Collins, she edited several bestsellers, including the New York Times bestseller Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman; and The Spark, a book on creativity from Cirque du Soleil’s Former Vice-President of Creation Lyn Heward. As Editorial Director of The Cheney Agency, she worked closely with many acclaimed and bestselling authors including Adelle Waldman (The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.), Marco Roth (The Scientists), and Eli Pariser (The Filter Bubble).

Sarah is also a novelist and comedian. She is the author of the novel Love Will Tear Us Apart (Three Rivers Press, 2009), was an improviser and writer for Maude Night at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and for many years had a recurring role as “The Log Lady” at a popular Twin Peaks-themed party in Brooklyn hosted by the electronic occult band “a place both wonderful and strange.”

JANELLE JULIAN

Superpower //creating clarity from chaos, amplifying the power of those around her, and making burritos out of anything

Janelle serves as our Director of Growth. Combining her coaching background with her natural operational prowess, she optimizes our processes/systems to scale our business and maximize our impact while building a world class culture that empowers everyone on our team.

Janelle is a certified life coach who graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double-major in Psychology and Human Development/Family Studies. She is fulfilled by guiding people to live more loving, peaceful, and joyful lives. She lets her wild imagination run free in the kitchen and on the improv stage. When she’s not making people smile, laugh, or full, she’s roaming redwood forests befriending banana slugs.

TY GIDEON LOVE

Superpower //talking about books. eavesdropping in five languages.

Ty Love is our Director of Author Success, Publicity & Marketing. At the office he helps with publicity, marketing, and helping our authors one-on-one through every step of the publishing process. Outside of the office he speaks fluent English and Italian, and French, with a proficiency in Dutch, and American Sign Language (with Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic on his list!).

He’s happiest reading, cooking elaborate meals, and finding the highest point in any city to hike.

JORDAN JACKS

Superpower //a sense of rhythm, both behind the keyboard and a set of drums.

Jordan Jacks holds an M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and a B.A. in English from Yale. His fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review,The Yale Review, Weekday,Territory, and The Organist, the podcast from KCRW and McSweeney’s. Jordan was the 2015-2016 James C. McCreight Fellow in Fiction at The Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and has been awarded scholarships and/or residencies from Bread Loaf, The Sewanee Writers’ Conference, The Key West Literary Seminar, St. Albans School, Washington University in St. Louis, and The James Merrill House.

Originally from Texas, he lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he is finishing his first novel and a collection of short stories.

BELLA ROBERTS

Superpower //transforming dreams into plans, spreadsheets, and emails. Executing a vision without burning out its light. Editing between dance moves.

Mirabella Roberts, or Bella for short, is the Literary Assistant at Idea Architects, where she supports the agency's prospecting and submission processes. Committed to bolstering underrepresented voices in literature, Bella has spent the past five years supporting authors in their explorations of mental health, immigration and displacement, and queerness.

As the founder of the non-profit Art to Reduce Mental Health Stigma, Bella has hosted over 50 storytelling events and supported over 100 authors, artists, and community activists in sharing stories that destigmatize mental health. Prior to joining the Idea Architects team, Bella worked to bring immigrant authors' stories to the U.S. as the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI). Bella dreams of continuing to explore the relationship between storytelling and social change. A native of Maryland, Bella loves to compete in slam poetry competitions, cook Georgian food, and dance. Bella holds a B.A. in Literary Arts and Public Policy from Brown University.

KELLY MINER

Superpower //

From small startups to major corporations, she's seen and done a little bit of everything in the accounting world. Her industry experience includes corrugated packaging/containerboard, technology/software, single family and townhome construction, candy manufacturing, and publishing. She's so happy to bring her unique skill set to Idea Architects where she can really make a difference.

Her constant companion is her two-year-old cat, Tommy Boy. He never leaves her side and loves the fact that she works from home. She currently resides in Pueblo, Colorado, but she is a transplant from the Southeast. She graduated from University of North Georgia in 1992 with a BBA in Accounting and started her career in the Atlanta area.

ALYSSA KNICKERBOCKER

Superpower //creator of characters, maker of metaphors, master of description. high-functioning on very little sleep.

Alyssa holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was the Halls Emerging Artist Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and the Axton Fellow in Fiction at the University of Louisville, where she directed a literary festival on “time travel” in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, exploring the different ways that writers leap into the past and future in their work. Her essays, which focus on motherhood, identity, and childbirth, have appeared most recently in Tin House and American Short Fiction’s parenting column “Bourbon and Milk.” Her fiction has appeared widely in journals and magazines and she is at work on a novel set in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, where she lived for many years and worked as an environmental educator, sailing instructor, challenge course facilitator, and bus driver. She lives on the Kitsap Peninsula with her husband–a science teacher–and their two little boys, who would love a dog/cat /rabbit/lizard/anything. (She is currently winning this fight and has no pets.)

AMA MCKINLEY

Superpower //exalting spiritual, life-altering moments found in the midst of mundanity, or murder.

Ama McKinley is a collaborative writer for Idea Architects based in Atlanta, GA. A Georgia native, she descends from a long line of griots. As a memoirist, her articles and essays focus primarily on spirituality, sex positivity, relationships and the Black American experience, and have been featured by HuffPost, ForHarriet and Medium. She earned her MBA from Florida A&M University, and is a fine jewelry designer specializing in gold and gemstone beadwork.

NINA ST. PIERRE

Superpower //curiosity (good thing i'm not a cat). seeing others so they can see themselves. asking the wrong questions at the right times. pushing past platitudes to get to the beating heart of the story.

Nina St. Pierre is a collaborative writer for IA. A California native, she comes from a long line of scientists, wanderers, and mystics. After migrating east to get her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Rutgers, where she founded an experimental writing salon called The Dark Room, she made a long-dreamt-of leap to New York. Currently, she lives in Brooklyn and flies through the streets with the greatest of ease on a Slovenian moped. Her articles and essays, which focus primarily on art, feminism, and spirituality, can be read in Catapult, InStyle, Narratively, NYLON, Brooklyn Magazine, Flaunt, Electric Literature, and in the anthology Burn It Down. She’s forever finishing a memoir about mysticism and madness set in rural northern California.

ZOË GADEGBEKU

Superpower //is able to make any and every conversation about Toni Morrison's Sula.

Zoë Gadegbeku is a Ghanaian writer living in Boston. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, where she worked in communications and taught first-year writing. She has been a fellow at the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, University of the West Indies-Cave Hill and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her writing has appeared in Afreada, Blackbird, The Washington Post, and The Best Small Fictions 2019, among other publications.

BOO PRINCE

Superpower //insatiable curiosity with incredible capacity for courageous conversation. voice and broadcast maven.

After many years of experience as a radio talk show host, journalist, and voice artist, Boo can spot a story like her Siamese cat can spot a Sunday roast. On a quest to discover the next generation of global visionaries, Boo stalks the smartest and most interesting people on earth to find the next big idea that will help us create a wiser, healthier, more just world. While she is totally at home behind the microphone, (having voiced more than 3000 commercials), Boo is most inspired by helping others find their best voice. She has a Bachelors degree in Communication, Journalism and Literature. Boo lives in Johannesburg with her husband, their two little boys, and three treat-seeking Siameses.

SYLVIE RABINEAU

Superpower //being the ultimate advocate for writers who aspire to see their stories on screen. empowering authors to adapt their own material and become multi-hyphenate talents.

Sylvie Rabineau is the co-head of WME’s Literary Packaging Department. She ran her own boutique literary agency, RWSG, for 18 years before WME acquired the agency in October of 2016. Sylvie represents, hand in hand with publishing agents, a curated list of authors, screenwriters, and television creators from across the globe. Sylvie is a passionate reader who has built her career around reading and discussing stories that will become entertainment for the world.

ERIC RAYMAN

Superpower //all things legal.

Eric was general counsel to The New Yorker magazine from 1998 to 2000, and Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Simon & Schuster from 1984-1998. Between 1980 and 1984, he was Chief Counsel, Studio and Network Operations at Home Box Office. He began his career at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, where he practiced law from 1977 to 1980. Since 1988, Eric has taught media and entertainment law at Cardozo School of Law, where he is an Adjunct Professor.

Eric is also a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in The New York Times and Conde Nast Traveler, and a producer of the feature film FireDancer and the documentary film Return to Afghanistan. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Harvard College and serves on the boards of The Harvard Lampoon, No Strings and the Charles Addams Foundation.

JEMMA MCDONAGH

Superpower //enthusiastic plate-spinner. selling translation rights throughout the world and many time zones with minimal breakages.

Jemma joined the Marsh Agency in 2010 and is now Rights Director. She started her publishing career in the editorial department at Orion, before moving into rights selling at Gregory & Company Authors’ Agents. Jemma sells translation rights in over 20 languages and works with our clients on the sale of UK rights.

CAMILLA FERRIER

Superpower //cheerfully selling translation rights in every language possible. helpful tall person skills (reaching for books on high shelves, etc).

Camilla has been the MD of the Marsh Agency since 2012 and with the company since 2002 having started her publishing career at HarperCollins. Alongside her managerial role she sells translation rights across the agency’s client base in multiple translation territories and represents a number of Estates worldwide.

RUTH SHEEROH MUREGA

Superpower //turns the rapid-fire dialogues of our visionaries into coherent text.

Ruth is a freelance transcriber who’s been working online for the past four years on freelance sites such as Elance, Upwork, Fiverr and Rev.com. She has worked extensively with our team to transcribe the brilliant conversations that our authors have with our collaborative writers and us. When she’s not transcribing or updating her latest blog post on her blog, you’ll find her enjoying family time, reading a nice fiction book, or watching the latest episode of the Blacklist series.

Our Brain Trust

WHAT WE DO

WHAT WE DON’T DO

OUR SUPERPOWERS

THINGS WE LOVE

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DOUG ABRAMS

Superpower //dreaming up life-changing, culture-changing books while falling off surfboards and training for triathlons.

Working with Doug Abrams at Idea Architects has been a wonderful joy. He is thoughtful, intelligent and really has a way of seeing the potential of a project. ~Archbishop Desmond Tutu

RACHEL NEUMANN

Superpower //making the impossible inevitable. using language to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

"Thanks to Rachel’s profound understanding of my teachings, style, and voice, my message has been communicated clearly, correctly, and authentically to thousands of readers. I am deeply grateful for her skillful work and dedication.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh

SARAH RAINONE

Superpower // Putting together the puzzle pieces of a story. Polishing sentences until they shine. Occasionally mixing metaphors.

JANELLE JULIAN

Superpower //creating clarity from chaos, amplifying the power of those around her, and making burritos out of anything

TY GIDEON LOVE

Superpower //talking about books. eavesdropping in five languages.

JORDAN JACKS

Superpower //a sense of rhythm, both behind the keyboard and a set of drums.

BELLA ROBERTS

Superpower //transforming dreams into plans, spreadsheets, and emails. Executing a vision without burning out its light. Editing between dance moves.

KELLY MINER

Superpower //

ALYSSA KNICKERBOCKER

Superpower //creator of characters, maker of metaphors, master of description. high-functioning on very little sleep.

AMA MCKINLEY

Superpower //exalting spiritual, life-altering moments found in the midst of mundanity, or murder.

NINA ST. PIERRE

Superpower //curiosity (good thing i'm not a cat). seeing others so they can see themselves. asking the wrong questions at the right times. pushing past platitudes to get to the beating heart of the story.

ZOË GADEGBEKU

Superpower //is able to make any and every conversation about Toni Morrison's Sula​.

BOO PRINCE

Superpower //insatiable curiosity with incredible capacity for courageous conversation. voice and broadcast maven.

SYLVIE RABINEAU

Superpower //being the ultimate advocate for writers who aspire to see their stories on screen. empowering authors to adapt their own material and become multi-hyphenate talents.

ERIC RAYMAN

Superpower //all things legal.

JEMMA MCDONAGH

Superpower //enthusiastic plate-spinner. selling translation rights throughout the world and many time zones with minimal breakages.

CAMILLA FERRIER

Superpower //cheerfully selling translation rights in every language possible. helpful tall person skills (reaching for books on high shelves, etc).

RUTH SHEEROH MUREGA

Superpower //turns the rapid-fire dialogues of our visionaries into coherent text.

Superpower //is able to make any and every conversation about Toni Morrison's Sula.