Young Change Makers: Why and How Author Surayyah Fofana Is Helping To Change Our World

Another thing I wish I heard is to “Trust yourself.” Even though the book is about my real experience, I still wasn’t sure if the story was interesting or made sense. I spent days trying to rearrange and rewrite some of the most meaningful parts of the book to make it “digestible.” It was only until I realized that stripping away parts of my actual experience prevented me from authentically trying to tell the story.

As part of my series about young people who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Surayyah Fofana.

Surayyah “RayRay” Fofana is a biracial activist, dancer, writer and high school student with a full head of phenomenally curly hair. RayRay Paints a Self-Portrait is her first ever children’s book. It’s based on her own experience as well as those experiences of families and children whose racial, ethnic and/or religious background are a little more varied than what is typically represented in mainstream media.