title:  An 11-Year Old Girl Interviewed Hillary, And Her Answers Are Beautiful
text: Eleven-year-old Marley Dias always wanted to be our first woman president so she could work to fix problems in the world. Then she realized that she doesn t have to be president to start working on the world s problems, and she founded a book drive known as #1000BlackGirlBooks. She s been looking for stories about young, black girls for nearly the last year.Marley s now looking at possibly having our first female president before she s even old enough to vote, and she has a few questions for Hillary Clinton.Elle printed the interview in full, and Hillary replied to Marley the exact same way she would reply to anyone else interviewing her. However, she also seemed to try and relate her experiences in a way that will help Marley as she grows up.For instance, Marley asked her about her favorite books, including her favorite black girl book. On that subject, Hillary told her: One of my favorite authors is Maya Angelou, and I love her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It tells the story of how Maya became such a strong, confident, determined person.Some parts are painful and hard to read, but of course that s the case in a lot of great books. And because Maya became a friend of mine in real life, it meant a lot to be able to read her story and understand her journey better. Hillary then quoted part of Angelou s  On The Pulse Of The Morning,  and finished with: Maya led a really difficult life, but she never forgot that each new day presented new opportunities. I m sure she felt afraid sometimes, just like we all do, but she didn t let her fears hold her back. That s a lesson I try to remember each and every day. As a black girl, who appears to already be growing into a strong black woman herself, knowing that Hillary has taken the experiences of someone like Maya Angelou and used them as inspiration to keep pushing forward, day after day, must be huge.We re not post-gender, and we re not post-racial either. Marley is growing up in a society that still currently sees her as very much less-than. Hillary is saying,  I was scared. You ll be scared. Things will get tough. But you can survive it and come out the other side stronger than you ever thought you could be. Here s how I know. Along those same lines, Marley also asked Hillary what advice she d give to her 11-year old self. Hillary said: I would say that when you have a big dream or you re trying to solve a big problem, there will always be people who tell you that you can t. Here s my advice: don t listen. Keep striving for your goals, and remember that it s good to be ambitious. There s nothing wrong with knowing what you want and going after it.And Marley, what you ve accomplished already is proof of that. Marley started #1000BlackGirlBooks because she was getting fed up with the books that her schools were having her read   they re classics, sure, but they almost always feature white boys as the main character. Black people particularly black girls are never a main character in these books. Yet, the books do exist and she was determined to bring them out into the light.Her book drive has already collected well over 4,000 titles a very impressive feat according to Hillary.Featured image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images