Dea Paoletta Auray

CEO, Founder of Empowering Writers and Author

Dea Paoletta Auray is the founder of Empowering Writers, LLC, and an educator dedicated to improving writing instruction in today’s classrooms. What started at Mill Hill School in Fairfield, Connecticut, has grown into a proven writing approach now used in over 1,500 schools across North America.

Working closely with teachers, Dea has refined a writing methodology designed to solve real classroom challenges—ensuring instructional consistency, delivering structured learning experiences, and making writing manageable and effective for students at all levels. A 45-point increase in state test scores helped validate the approach and led to the launch of Empowering Writers in 1997.

Today, Dea leads the development of writing curriculum and resources focused on narrative, informational, opinion writing, and text response. Empowering Writers has trained tens of thousands of educators through workshops and conferences. Individually, Dea has co-authored more than 40 classroom titles—along with two professional books published by Scholastic: Super Story Writing Strategies and Easy Art Activities that Spark Super Writing.