Marley Dias is an insightful, dynamic, purpose-driven changemaker who launched the viral #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign and authored Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! At just 13, she became the youngest person ever named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list (2018), and her campaign has since collected over 15,000 books, transforming the conversation around representation in children’s literature.

Marley launched #1000BlackGirlBooks in November of 2015, at age 11, with support from the GrassROOTS Community Foundation.  Frustrated by the lack of Black girl protagonists in her school’s reading lists, she turned a personal frustration into a global movement. Her story quickly went viral, gaining more than 10 billion media impressions and coverage from outlets like The Ellen Show, BBC, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, The View, and NPR. Books have been donated across the U.S. and internationally, including in Jamaica, her mother’s birthplace.

Her bold advocacy earned her invitations to speak on major stages, including the White House’s United State of Women Summit (alongside Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey), the Forbes Women’s Summit, the United Nations’ Girl Up initiative, and the Social Innovation Summit. In 2017, Marley received the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award in the Youth Category for her groundbreaking work on literary representation. TIME recognized her as one of the 25 Most Influential Teens of 2018.

As Editor-in-Residence at ELLE, Marley interviewed notable figures such as Ava DuVernay, Misty Copeland, and Hillary Clinton.  She has also been featured in a Microsoft Commercial, a Disney World Resorts digital campaign, and a Walmart Black History Month campaign, among others.  Her voice has appeared in outlets such as Teen Vogue, Refinery29 Unbothered, Glamour, and more. Marley also sits on the first youth board of directors for Hello Sunshine, founded by Reese Witherspoon, and has sat on the Glamour Women of the Year awards advisory board for many years.

In 2020, Marley became Executive Producer and host of the Netflix series Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices, featuring celebrities reading books by Black authors. The series earned a 2021 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Children’s Program, expanding her influence in children’s media and storytelling.

In April 2022, Marley was invited to the White House for a policy briefing hosted by Gender Policy Council Director Jen Klein and Ambassador Susan Rice, where she joined a select group of young women to advise on addressing the national mental health crisis.

Her work would not be possible without the GrassROOTS Community Foundation (GCF), co-founded by her mother, Dr. Janice Johnson Dias. GCF is a public health and social action organization that funds, supports, and scales wellness programs for women and girls. Marley and fellow “Super Girls” from GCF launched Green Ribbon Week, a youth-led initiative to raise awareness about teen mental health.

Currently, Marley is a student at Harvard University, where she writes for The Harvard Crimson. She continues to serve as the National Education Association’s (NEA) National Ambassador for their Read Across America campaign. Additionally, Marley recently joined the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s National Racial Equity Initiative (NREI)  Advisory Board.

In 2024, Marley was honored as a Youth Laureate by the United Nations Young Activist Summit, where she was the only American recognized that year, solidifying her place as a global leader in youth advocacy and social justice. Additionally, Marley was named a 2024-2026 Voyager Scholar and was awarded the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service.

That same year, students at View Park Prep K-8 Elementary School in Los Angeles established a new library and named it after Marley in recognition of her impact on literacy, education, and representation. Marley considers the naming of the Marley Dias Library one of her greatest honors.

In 2025, Marley launched Third Space, a weekly newsletter that serves as an ode to storytelling and the spaces it creates. Third Space is not a creative studio nor a forum, but the beginning of a long-term vision, one that invites readers to explore culture, identity, and imagination through Marley’s evolving lens as a young leader and writer.

On June 2, 2026, Scholastic will release Marley’s latest book, I Am The Dream Come True. From viral campaigns to global platforms, Marley Dias is not just amplifying voices; she’s shaping the future of storytelling, leadership, and equity in the 21st century.