Amanda Gorman is a household name that will live on to inspire many. It only took six minutes for her to make history. Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate from Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She has had incredible opportunities such as writing for the New York Times as well as writing three books with Penguin Random House at such a young age. With such a power house such as herself taking over the world, some might ask where her passion came from. 

Ms. Gorman was born and raised in Los Angeles, where she began reading and writing at a young age. Growing up with three siblings, limited television, and a single mother who is a sixth grade English teacher, writing served as her outlet. She was diagnosed at a young age with auditory processing disorder (a hearing condition in which one’s brain has a problem processing sounds) and a speech impediment, but neither hindered her passion to write. Gorman participated in speech therapy throughout her childhood. Gorman also told The Harvard Gazette in 2018, “I always saw it as a strength because since I was experiencing these obstacles in terms of my auditory and vocal skills, I became really good at reading and writing.”

Gorman doesn’t view her speech impediment as a crutch, rather she sees it as a gift and a strength. By pushing through what many might see as an issue, she has gained invitations from notable people such as the Obamas to perform in front of her favorite Lin-Manuel Miranda and many others. 

Just to add onto her amazing resume, Gorman made history by becoming the first youth poet to open the literary season for the Library of Congress in 2017. She has gone against the stereotypes black women face day to day. Now black little girls such as myself have a new face in poetry to look up too. 

 “I am the daughter of Black writers. We are descended from freedom fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call.” -Amanda Gorman mantra