Mrs. Z and Me’s Author
Kiana Sedigh, 16
When not chopping wood planks in half with her bare hands as a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and spinning across her favorite ice rink, 16-year-old Kiana likes sweet tea, pickles, and dipping Fiery Hot Cheetos in Tapatio sauce. Her most comical moment is when her two-year-old sister, a foodie, proclaimed she wished she could trade Kiana for bread ‘n butter. Regardless of not being appreciated *sniff*, Kiana tries to lift up everyone around her, which she does by convincing her peers to help others. When she couldn’t find a school club that spoke to her heart, she found GirlUp, which funds education for developing country girls, and recruited 98 girls and guys to send 400 girls to school. She also loves making people beautiful on the outside and can often be found helping her friends look their best for the occasions that mean the most. Kiana loves languages and movies from different countries as she loves people of all kinds and is curious to know you. She hopes this book will raise awareness for the cause of a better education for all, feed hungry kids here (hunger lowers IQ), and fund more schooling for girls everywhere.
Mrs. Z and Me’s Illustrators
Jae Ho Kim, 16
Jae Ho loves fish and fashion. In fact, he has the coolest parents ever as his Mom said “yes” to him keeping his pet horned shark and moray eels in the living room! Besides designing clothes, new ways to package vitamins, and vacuum cleaners for the blind, Jae Ho once fasted for 55 hours just to see if he could. Of course, the first thing he devoured post-fast was a cheeseburger! As an artist, Jae Ho hopes the love he poured into his book will help make education more creative and give underprivileged kids worldwide a chance at any education at all.
Soeun Kim, 15
Soeun loves avocados, BTS, and hiding her mom’s shoes at the beach. Her quirkiest habit is picking up clothes and paperback books with her toes and catching grapes and cereal in her mouth like a seal! Her most embarrassing moment was running to the door to get a pizza only to find her brother’s tutor standing there with a bag of books. She hopes this book will spark a creative revolution in education and help kids who have none.