Though as I say in my book, PE Teacher didn't get much support, but everything else that I ever wanted to be, they would literally do whatever it took to get me to double in that interest. I've had all kinds of ridiculous ideas and stuff like I want to be a ballerina or I want to be a PE teacher. I came into the right household for the type of person I am where anything that I'm even distantly interested in, my parents full-on support me. Melissa Harris-Perry: How did you become so awesome? I thought that you know what, I think I should write a book here. I've read way over 1000 books in my life and I just have always loved writing so it was a natural progression for me to want to become a author myself.Īround the time right after I won Scripps, I was thinking, so this is a great time for me to write a book because now people will be wanting to hear my story and how did I become so awesome. Zaila Avant-Garde: My childhood dream, one of the many ones I've had has always been to become an author since I've always been an extremely avid reader. Why did you want to write these books now? Talk to me about making the decision to become a book author. I love that pizza is the thing, and also, I can just hear your dad in my head. My whole family loves it actually so I would say that's the best part. There's a place here called Ledo Pizza, which I am obsessed with. My favorite part I would definitely say is the pizza. Other than that, I'm definitely loving the experience of having moved here. I've always loved a lot of things about Washington DC but my dad's actually from here, so we're actually living in his childhood home, which brings up a lot of annoying things that he says every day about how so in this room this happened and this is the room where this happened. Before we started in on the books, I asked Zaila about her recent move from Louisiana to Washington DC. The second one will be out in late June and it's a children's book titled Words of Wonder: From Z to A. The first one is out now and it's titled, It's Not Bragging If It's True: How to Be Awesome At Life. Melissa Harris-Perry: She's bringing everyone along and giving lessons on how to be awesome with not just one, but two new books. Zaila Avant-Garde: I feel like winning Scripps has put me on the platform where I can now just be a person for people to look at and see if she can do it, she's just a normal girl, I'm a normal girl too, I can do it. Zaila Avant-Garde: Hey, hurray, I had no idea. Sue Bird: Let me be the first to congratulate you on being named Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year. Melissa Harris-Perry: Zaila holds two Guinness World Records, both for different methods of basketball dribbling and her success led to some pretty special moments like this one with basketball legend Sue Bird. Zaila Avant-Garde: For my 13th birthday, I decided that I wanted to celebrate becoming a teenager to do a Guinness World Record. Melissa Harris-Perry: At just 14 years old, Zaila became the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but because Zaila is Black girl genius personified, that was not her first major accomplishment. Zaila Avant-Garde: Murraya, M-U-R-R-A-Y-A. Now you may remember Zaila Avant-Garde from this winning moment back in 2021. Melissa Harris-Perry: You're back with The Takeaway.
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