14-year-old activist shares inspiring message at State of Wisconsin Girls Summit
State of Wisconsin Girls Summit 2019
MILWAUKEE -- Cyberbullying, poverty, and mental health. These are just some of the common issues young girls face. Fourteen-year-old Marley Dias spoke about the challenges with her peers at Alverno College on Saturday, March 23.
Back in 2015, Dias set out to collect and donate 1,000 children's books that feature African-American girls as the lead character.
Her social media campaign, "#1000blackgirlbooks" went viral and to date, more than 12,000 books have been collected.
Marley Dias at State of Wisconsin Girls Summit 2019
Marley Dias
"Identity is really important at adolescence and seeing your experiences as valid and represented allows you to feel confident and secure with who you are. If we don't have that we can't have black women that lead, we can't have black women in government, we can't have black women teachers because they don't feel confident enough and strong enough to even say who they are and speak openly," said Dias.
The State of Wisconsin Girls Summit was a day-long event.
Meantime, Dias has also written a book called, "Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You!"
State of Wisconsin Girls Summit 2019