Meet the StoryLearning Team

There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes every day at StoryLearning to keep things running smoothly. Thankfully, we have a small but dedicated team of people who are passionate about languages and helping you to learn them.

Let me introduce them…

Olly Richards

Founder & CEO

Olly Richards is a teacher, author, speaker and language learner!

He discovered the power of learning through story after a terrifying near-death experience on top of a mountain.

Since then, he has published 30+ language books, worked with major universities, and featured in documentaries on the BBC.

David pinto

David Pinto

Customer Support Manager

If you’ve ever emailed in to StoryLearning, his name may sound familiar to you because Dave is in charge of Customer Support. He’s here to help students with any issues they encounter as they set sail on their language learning adventure together. 

Dave was born in the US, but upon graduating from college with a degree in Spanish language, he decided to move to Madrid, Spain where he now lives and works as an online English teacher. He likes to go hiking in the mountains, practicing calisthenics, and studying languages. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese. 

james granahan storylearning

James Granahan

Chief Operating Officer

James manages the day to day operations of StoryLearning from working with the content team, collaborating with our expert language teachers and helping to develop new language courses.

James is originally from Ireland but now lives on the road, splitting his time between Europe and South America. He loves travelling to new places and learning about different cultures and he spends his free time reading history books, hiking and learning new skills – especially languages! He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian and a bit of German.

Cara Leopold

Blog Manager

Cara looks after the blog – editing content and making it look nice on the website so that our visitors can read useful, helpful and inspiring articles that help them fulfil their language learning dreams! 

Cara grew up in the UK, in Scotland and in England, but moved to France in 2007. She lives in an obscure French city, about an hour from the Swiss border. When she’s not teaching English, she likes to watch movies and TV shows, listen to podcasts, go on hikes, pursue creative pursuits and do environmental activism. She speaks French, some Spanish and a little bit of German. 

Madeline Holler

Product Development Manager

Madeline is involved  in pretty much every part of any StoryLearning course since she edits and format the member areas and works closely with our expert language teachers. She works hard to make sure how students experience the course is what was in mind when it was designed.

She's been learning languages since I was a teenager, first German and the Swiss German dialect of the Zürich region where she lived for a year. She later learned Japanese, when she lived and taught English there for two years. She started speaking Spanish in earnest two years ago, when spent a year in Oviedo, in northern Spain, for a year. She swears, one day, she'll finally get somewhere with French.

Stefano Suigo

Language Expert

Stefano is in charge of replying to the students' comments in all (currently 5) Uncovered courses, answering their language-specific questions and helping them get unstuck with all kinds of explanations when needed (simply put: keeping them happy), as well as filing error reports for correction. He's also involved in finding new ways to improve the worksheets in general. Stefano is from Milan, Italy, but has lived in Brussels for what feels like a heck of a long time. He loves learning, using and reading in foreign languages, playing tennis and mixing cocktails. His Old Fashioned – as legend has it – is really good! He speaks German, English, Finnish, Portuguese, Japanese, French, Romanian, Spanish, plus some Icelandic, Chinese and Georgian, while still getting by in Italian. 

sofía poggi storylearning spanish podcast host

Sofía Félix Poggi

Spanish Content Manager

Sofía is a talented writer from Argentina. She speaks Spanish, English, French and Italian. She is the writer and host of the StoryLearning Spanish podcast and she also manages the StoryLearning Spanish YouTube channel. Sofía studied Art History and Journalism, so her favourite writing topic is art. She loves movies, animation history and good books.

Lisa Narramore

Head Scriptwriter

Lisa is a writer and language researcher with a background in wildlife painting and ESL teaching.  She's from South Africa and has taught English in Thailand. Currently Cape Town-based, she's nomadic and has lived in many places.Lisa works with Olly on scripts for the YouTube channel, as well as writing language product reviews and blog posts.Apart from English, Lisa speaks Afrikaans fluently and is studying Italian; she also has basic understanding of her local Bantu language (Xhosa). Her other passions are hiking and rock-climbing, reading, writing poetry, illustration, musical instruments and any island with a jungle on it. 

Eric Schenck

Marketing Manager

Eric is a writer and language learner who helps with all things marketing at StoryLearning. He graduated from college in 2015 and has since lived in Egypt and Germany. He enjoys reading, drinking German beer, pretending to dance, and plays squash whenever he has the chance.  

Ines Novak storylearning

Ines Novak

Product Development Assistant

Ines works with Madeline on everything product related,  making sure all of our courses and lessons are uploaded, checked and ready for students!Some of her passions in life include traveling, cycling, hiking, reading, music, and personal development. She lives in a breathtakingly picturesque town Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

nebojsa momcilovic storylearning

Nebojsa Momcilovic

Finance Assistant

Nebojsa takes care of finances and invoice at StoryLearning.He's from Novi Sad, Serbia.

chris jones storylearning

Chris Jones

Teacher Training

Chris is our head of teacher training and leads our CeOLT teacher training certification courses.He has been involved in the world of English language teaching for over 17 years, as a teacher trainer, teacher, examiner, manager and content developer. He's originally from Newcastle, England. In his free time he enjoys travelling, going on long walks when there's a pub at the end of them, and making music.

wendy nissen storylearning

Wendy Nissen

YouTube Manager

Wendy is StoryLearning's YouTube producer.Wendy loves to wear many hats. Along with being a mom of 7, she has also been a public radio announcer, high school physics teacher, online teacher, proofreader, editor, and writer. She loves to stay busy and to put a smile on people's faces.

Wendy is currently based in Ohio, USA.

alexia storylearning

Alexia Souza

Influencer Marketing

Alexia helps StoryLearning to reach more learners by identifying creators who have engaged, relevant audiences and agreeing partnerships and paid sponsorships with them.

Alexia is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but now lives in Porto, Portugal.

Alexia is an enthusiastic dog trainer, loves Brazilian music, has two podcasts, loves to go on road trips, hiking and watching Netflix & Co.
katarina storylearning

Katarina Kosovac

Customer Support Assistant

Kara Yannon storylearning

Kara

Marketing Assistant

Kara is a marketing guru by day and a private voice and piano teacher by night. She also makes music under the artist name Yannon (her last name). Find her on streaming! She loves traveling and has lived in Thailand and Brussels, Belgium, where she got to strengthen her French skills. Right now she's based in St. Louis, Missouri and is planning her next move. Kara has 2 fat cats named Nar Nar and Willow. Nar Nar is pictured above in her 2021 Christmas photo.

×