About the Founder

Agnes Otten is the founder, author, and illustrator behind Aiyana Tales, a unique cultural storytelling and social-emotional learning program for children. She is the creative mind behind the stories, the illustrations, and the visual world of Aiyana Tales, bringing the characters and their messages to life through her own artwork.

With many years of dedicated experience in education, Agnes has always been deeply committed to the emotional development of children. She believes that learning to understand feelings, trust oneself, and develop a strong sense of identity is one of the greatest gifts a child can receive.

Through her work with children, Agnes discovered a powerful and natural way for children to learn about themselves: through animals. Children are instinctively drawn to animals and easily recognize qualities in them that reflect their own inner world.

This insight became the heart of Aiyana Tales.

In the stories, each animal represents a special strength or life lesson. Through these characters, children learn in a playful and intuitive way about courage, self-expression, resilience, and kindness. By recognizing these qualities in the animals, children are gently guided to recognize the same strengths within themselves.

The name Aiyana, meaning forever flowering, reflects the deeper vision behind the initiative: a growing movement that encourages children everywhere to discover their inner strength, creativity, and resilience.

Through these lessons, children learn to grow, bloom, and shine in their own unique way — the gift of emotional resilience, a strength they carry with them throughout their lives.