America’s First Youth Poet Laureate: 5 Things You’d Love to Know About Amanda Gorman

2021-01-25T09:00:11+00:00

By Virtue Digest

America’s First Youth Poet Laureate: 5 Things You’d Love to Know About Amanda GormanOn 20th January 2021, the 22-year-old Amanda Gorman became the youngest person to ever recite an inauguration poem in the United States. It took her five minutes to capture the world’s attention with her poem titled “The Hill We Climb”, and for the past few days, Amanda Gorman has become a household name. So, if you didn’t know much about Gorman before her captivating rendition, here are five things you would love to know about her.

Amanda plans to run for president in 2036:

You should tick that on your calendar. Speaking to a New York Times reporter, Amanda announced her intention to run for president in 2036. Unquestionably, watching Kamala Harris sworn into office must have fuelled this ambition and in her words, “There is no denying that victory for her is a victory for all of us who would like to see ourselves represented as women of colour in office.”

She has a speech impediment:

Despite her speech impediment, Amanda Gorman was able to give that stunning performance at the inauguration. The impediment is related to the difficulty in pronouncing the sound ‘r’. However, Amanda used writing and a song from Mirinda’s Pulitzer Prize-wining Broadway Musical Hamilton to overcome the impediment.

She is a Tech Girl:

It is amazing that Amanda is actively involved in the Tech space beyond being a songwriter and a poet. In 2017, she won a ten thousand dollar grant as part of the OZY Genius Awards. The award seeks to support the next Albert Einstein or Mark Zuckerberg as they launch a new company. Also, while she was studying at Harvard, Amanda worked on a project called “Generation Empathy”, an experiential virtual reality project that aims to empower young girls.

Amanda became the youth delegate for United Nations at 16 years old:

In 2013, Amanda was enlisted to be a United Nations Youth Delegate in New York City. According to the report, the focus was to find solutions for some of the world’s most pressing problems including poverty, hunger and inequality. Also, she wrote a poem titled “The Gathering Place” at a UN Summit.

She has a twin:

Amanda’s twin sister, Gabrielle Gorman, is an activist and filmmaker. Amanda and her twin sister, along with their brother were raised by a single mother, Joan Wicks.All over the world, Amanda Gorman has become a role model to not just youths, but to everyone who has been inspired by her poem.Read Also: Girl, Get Up!- Sarah Jakes Robert