Meet Our SIL Summit 2025 Keynote Speaker
Helena Donato-Sapp

Helena Donato-Sapp is a passionate 16-year-old globally awarded youth advocate, educator, creative writer, scholar, and sought-after keynote speaker whose current work is focused on Disability Justice. She has published academic chapters and articles, exhibited art in museums, and spoken to audiences nationwide. Helena’s intersectional work has been recognized by universities, activist communities, and various government and nongovernment organizations through collaborations, appointments, and awards.

In 2024, Helena was named “20 Under 20 who are making a difference” by Diversity in Action magazine, and received the "Yes, I Can" Award in Academics from the Council for Exceptional Children. A storyteller and poet, Helena dreams of breaking into film or television as a writer, director, and producer. She has been the Poet Laureate of the National Institutes for Historically-Underserved Students since 2019, and recently became a Runner Up for the 2025-2026 Western Regional Youth Poet Laureate of the United States and a Runner Up for the 2025-2026 Los Angeles County Youth Poet Laureate. She has served as the Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate and Los Angeles County Youth Poet Ambassador. Helena is a junior in the Creative Writing conservatory and a newly appointed student leader at the prestigious Orange County School of the Arts, where her favorite subjects are Science and the Humanities. Helena enjoys History, reading mystery novels, horror movies, and all things Science Fiction. She has spent years practicing Martial Arts and has attained a Green Belt in karate.