Learning expert Amparo Leyman Pino shares how she embarked on her mission to make museums more accessible and diverse

Most people have a fond childhood memory of a trip to the museum or science center. Aside from providing enjoyment, these speak to children’s innate sense of curiosity and encourage them to learn more.However, for an exhibit to be effective, it must be carefully designed and able to communicate to as many people as possible, awakening or deepening their interest in the topic. Accomplishing this is not an easy task, and this is where Amparo Leyman Pino, founder of Yellow Cow Consulting, comes in. Amparo is a learning expert, specializing in leadership, pedagogy, organizational change, diversity, and inclusion. Since 1994, she has been working to make museums, science centers, and other similar institutions more diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive.According to Amparo, she has always been interested in educating and entertaining children. When she was a high school student in Mexico, she and her cousin had a business that organized children’s birthday parties. This set-up was perfect for her, as a high school and later college student, as the usual times of children’s parties did not conflict with her schooling and social life.Amparo says her joining the museum world was a "serendipitous” event. In 1994, she was in her last year of college when she learned about the opening of the first-ever children’s museum in Mexico City, the Papalote Museo del Niño. She and her cousin typed out their resumes and went to the museum to drop them off. They arrived at the right time, as they were interviewed on the spot and quickly hired. Amparo first worked as an explainer at the museum. The exhibit deputy director, Maribel Ibarra, recognized Amparo’s untapped potential and recruited her to become the department’s education advisor.After some years, Amparo left the museum to work in the school sector, eventually co-founding Redwood School, which incorporates various innovative educational philosophies in its curriculum. However, she says that the museum world was always close to her heart and kept pulling her back, so she continued working with various museums as an external consultant.An avid traveler, Amparo always wanted to see the world, so she left Mexico to expand her personal and professional horizons. She went to California and, even before she got her work visa, she had already begun networking with various leaders in the museum and education field and volunteering at various institutions.mparo met and befriended Nina Simon, author of The Participatory Museum, one of the most influential works in the field of museum exhibit design. At the time, Nina worked for the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, and Amparo learned a lot from her, bringing many of Nina’s principles to the various museums she worked with in Mexico and beyond.Amparo’s networking and volunteering efforts paid off, as she was hired as director of exhibits and programs at the Bay Area Discovery Museum soon after her work permit was granted. She was also accepted to the prestigious Noyce Leadership Institute program, where she honed her leadership style and engaged with leaders from around the world. She is also a member of the Museum Group, a consortium of leading museum professionals, as well as a Fulbright Specialist.In her role as principal of Yellow Cow, Amparo has worked with numerous institutions from all over the world, formulating strategies and guiding clients in applying the principles of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) in their exhibits. These include the Kids Im Dialog at Dialoghaus in Hamburg, Germany, Technorama - the Swiss Science Center, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s Creatividad Silvestre, a Spanish-language exhibit on biomimicry. Yellow Cow’s advisory board is composed of respected senior figures in the museum, education, and organizational change sectors."My serendipitous journey in the museum field is now entering its 30th year,” Amparo says. "I love the museum field because I love children and I want to share with them my love of learning. Over the years, I’ve met many influential thinkers and leaders in various industries, and I’ve learned so much from them. There’s still so much to do to help museums and other learning institutions more effectively adapt and engage learners in a meaningful way.”