CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE'S "40 UNDER 40" - MEET THE CLASS OF 2021
CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE'S "40 UNDER 40" - MEET THE CLASS OF 2021“My purpose is to save the youth and I’m just getting started!”
FEBRUARY 1, 2021 - NEW HAVEN, CT ---
Anna Nyakana
34 / Stamford
Children’s author and entrepreneur annanyakana.com • @Niyah_Zuri on Instagram and Twitter
Nyakana set out to write multicultural books to help children celebrate their diversity and recognize their worth. Born to a Ugandan father and German-Moldavian mother, she attended a low-funded school that failed to offer positive role models or lesson plans that spotlighted representation. “Every child deserves to know they have the ability to reach their fullest potential regardless of their ZIP code,” says the award-winning, best-selling author of Niyah Zuri and The Pharaoh’s Throne. “Children of color and all cultures should have respect, love and understanding of one another in order to develop a prolific knowledge of self and those they share this world with.” More important to her than sales, Nyakana works with school administrators in Connecticut and nationally to implement the Niyah Zuri series into curriculums. She is creating an educational cartoon series, Adventures with Niyah Zuri, based on her books that will help children build their consciousness and vocabulary through world adventures while showing them they can achieve their wildest dreams. Multifaceted, Nyakana is also a singer-songwriter, producer, content-creator, motivational speaker, and a mom of two who has sparked a movement for unification. “My purpose is to save the youth and I’m just getting started!”