Anna Nyakana

Sep 28 2021

Anna Nyakana "This is 50" Feature Article - New York, New York

Anna Nyakana: Amplifying the Sounds of World Music 

Anna Nyakana is an award-winning and bestselling children’s author, speaker, producer, musician, and singer-songwriter. Hailing from Uganda by way of Berlin, Germany, she is most notably known for creating the Niyah Zuri…

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Apr 13 2021

Anna Nyakana Feature Article in Thrive Global - San Francisco, CA

Anna Nyakana Honing the Generations of Tomorrow

APRIL 13, 2021 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA --- The children are the generations of tomorrow. How future adults will function and co-exist as a society will depend on how they are taught to live and how they are taught to be co-existing individuals. People are born unbiased, honest, and pure. On the other hand, adults often live with stereotypes and the tendency to discriminate because society taught them to do so. Since the mindsets of adults in the current generation will be hard to alter to avoid stereotypes, the children are the only hope in trying to form a better society. Raising them with the correct mindsets will save humanity from discrimination, biases, and racism. Anna Nyakana recognized this reality and chose to change the narrative.

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Mar 19 2021

Anna Nyakana Feature Article in New York Weekly - New York, NY

Anna Nyakana Continues to Empower Children with Another Addition to the Niyah Zuri Series

MARCH 19, 2021 - NEW YORK, NY ---

While some cultures have been openly celebrated, others have been humbly striving to be heard while being in the shadows. Eclipsed by the popular, many individuals feel underrepresented for not fitting the mold. Award-winning and bestselling author, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur Anna Nyakana feels an immense responsibility to shed light on such cultures and uphold her mission of educating and empowering the youth to ultimately bring unification to humankind. 

Anna Nyakana is the genius behind Niyah Zuri Books, a children’s books series that seeks to break away from the traditional damsel-in-distress stories while introducing history from cultures around the world not typically discovered in the classroom. She is also the creator of Niyah Zuri Studios, her production house that is responsible for “Adventures with Niyah Zuri,” a cartoon series based on her books with the purpose of bringing representation to the pixels and inspiring excitement for literacy. To sum up her goals, the multi-talented visionary wants to instill in the youth the Niyah Zuri Way,which means “beautiful purpose.” 

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Mar 19 2021

Anna Nyakana Feature Article in KIVO DAILY - Nashville, TN

Anna Nyakana: The Chieftess of the Niyah Zuri Tribe

MARCH 19, 2021 - NASHVILLE, TN ---

“Who and What is Niyah Zuri?” you may ask. “It means Beautiful Purpose in Swahili, and I chose that name on purpose and for a purpose,” states Anna Nyakana, the award-winning creator behind the movement. Anna is responsible for the Niyah Zuri children’s book series, most notably the bestselling Niyah Zuri and The Pharaoh’s Throne, which has grown to new heights in popularity as it enters countless school districts across the country. The book series follows a fearless and curly-headed heroine, Niyah Zuri, as she and her best friends the Gonzales Twins time travel to ancient lands to assist other children from history overcome obstacles. It fulfills the need for representation in kids literature while also highlighting history, youth empowerment, and STEM. 

Born in Berlin, Germany in 1986, Nyakana is of Ugandan and German-Moldavian descent. Her family immigrated to the US in the ’90s and she began her journey of self-discovery in a very Black-and-White American society, all the while never letting go of the culture she hailed from. Her passion to bring diversity to the classroom is very much rooted in her own cultural pride and is perfectly captured in her vision statement, “Children should see a reflection of themselves in the books that they read. My mission is to inspire them, one adventure at a time.” 

Building upon her book series, Anna Nyakana is giving the Niyah Zuri Tribe another source of motivation to literally tap into; the digital world. Anna has created an animated cartoon series titled, Adventures with Niyah Zuri, which she is currently pitching to networks. When asked about her reasons for creating the cartoon she shared, “I seldom identified with a character on the cover of a book and that was the same case when I turned on the TV, even if there were only a handful of channels. Our hue deserves to be represented in the pixels and with the amount of screens in our kid’s hands these days, there’s no reason why they can’t learn about their own glorious history and that of others, all while gaining a new love of literacy through exploration! I vow to do my part to make even a screen an unmistakable tool for a child to discover the worth of their own melanated element.” Nyakana is leaving no stone unturned as she leans on her #NoDaysOff mantra to bridge the gap of representation from books to animation and beyond! 

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