Jilliane Yawney was eighteen years old when she attended her first storytelling festival. She was so affected by the magic of the experience that within the next month she enrolled in private drama lessons and began her journey into the world of storytelling. Shortly after this, Jilliane received an Associates of Speech and Dramatic Arts and began teaching drama to her own students. Later she pursued a degree in drama from the University of Lethbridge. She has competed in festivals, told stories in libraries, in schools and in the community.

After using storytelling in the school system and witnessing its ability to captivate students, Jilliane was convinced that storytelling had an important role in classroom instruction. While pursuing a Master's of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta she received a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This grant enabled Jilliane to spend a year researching how storytelling can help students work their way through the research process.

iTales was launched in 2007 and has stories for every interest and age group.  Stories are in mp3 audio format and can be downloaded to any mp3 player.  Story prices start as low as 49 cents per download.

Todd Harvey is a Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress and curator of the Alan Lomax Collection. Todd also curates the Folklife Center's Pete and Toshi Seeger Film Collection and the International Storytelling Collection. Previously, Todd's research interest in the 1960's folk revival led to a post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the publication of the book, The Formative Dylan. The book examines the lyric and melodic roots of seventy songs from Bob Dylan's early repertoire. Todd holds a library science degree (MSLS) from the Catholic University of America as well as degrees in music composition (MM, DMA) from Ohio State University.