YA Nonfiction Skills

RJ Barranco

RJ Barranco has spent the last decade in career and technical education doing the work this series is about: helping young people build real skills for real careers.

As a CTE teacher, program leader, and curriculum creator at a career and technical academy in Las Vegas, he has watched thousands of students navigate the gap between what school teaches and what the working world expects. He has built curriculum from scratch, led professional learning communities across his state, coached competitive teams, and advised student organizations ranging from FBLA to esports. The through line in all of it is the same: meet students where they are, give them frameworks that actually work, and never pretend the world is simpler than it is.

He holds a Master's Degree in Education and brings a practitioner's perspective to everything he writes. The skills in his books are not theoretical. They are the ones he teaches, the ones his students use, and the ones that keep showing up as the difference between young people who are ready and those who are not.

He lives in Las Vegas with his two pugs.

RJ's books in the series