Meet Meena Harris, Kamala's Seriously "Phenomenal" Niece (& Biggest Fan!)

This past June, Meena officially added "Children's Book Author" to her already impressive resume when her first book, Kamala and Maya's Big Idea was published, telling an empowering true story from her aunt and mother's childhood. In October, Meena revealed that her second children's book, Ambitious Girl, is coming out next year.

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It feels somewhat surreal to say this, but I wrote another kids' book! It's about a girl who sees a strong woman on TV labeled as “too assertive“ and “too ambitious,” which sends her on a journey of discovery about the challenges faced by women and girls, and the ways in which they can reclaim words meant to knock them down. I was raised to believe that ambition was a good thing. Ambition means owning and living your purpose; it means self-determination. It never occurred to me until I was much older that this could be anything but positive, something to be celebrated. I've worked hard to make sure my own daughters are raised with these same values that shaped my childhood. So when I heard people criticizing one of the women in our family for being “too ambitious,” and it was amplified by the media, it stopped me in my tracks. Not because I hadn’t heard something like that before, but because, as a parent, I felt a new sense of urgency to make sure my young daughters—and girls all over—would have the tools and language to reframe what they'll inevitably hear in the “real world.” In writing this book, my greatest hope is that girls dare to define their own unique purpose in the world, and that they grow into strong, ambitious women. Thank you to my friends and family who supported me throughout this process, including sitting on the phone with me to rhyme words. I'm also so grateful to my agent @caithoyt and publisher @farrinj at @littlebrown for pushing me and helping me to develop as an author, and for my incredible illustrator @marissaarts, who made me cry multiple times for putting so much detail and care into bringing this to life. Ambitious Girl is available on January 19, 2021, but pre-sale officially starts TODAY, available wherever books are sold. More details at ambitiousgirlbook.com—link in bio!
A post shared by Meena Harris (@meena) on Oct 13, 2020 at 11:50am PDT