My name is Kyla Woods and I live in the greater South Los Angeles area. I live with my mother, younger sister, and my bearded dragon. Currently attending Teach Tech Charter High School. I would describe myself as a determined creative person and my intended college major in studio art. My future endeavors are to make fashion dolls, with the influence of picture books, along with incorporating diversity. The sharing of information, and even fictional information plays a large role in society due to millions of diverse stories that can be learnt from. Literacy is a clear part of this as there needs to be a way for this information to be shared. Picture books are some of our first introductions to the riveting world of literature. An example of this is my own experience with picture books when I was younger. A picture book series I read when I was younger was the Dork Diaries series. The art style in the Dork Diaries has forever resonated with me, even at the age of 17, I still find myself examining the art style and incorporating some elements of it into my art style. I also found myself relating to the main character's quirkiness and personal struggles involving popularity. Picture books led me into the wonderful world of traditional literature and reading, which blossomed me into the person I am today. Something that all media lacks in my opinion is diversity. Most modern media are indeed incorporating diversity, but sometimes it feels slow and often forced. I’m a plus-size, black woman, often times, media depicting people who look like me either doesn’t exist or are highly negatively stereotypical. This made it difficult for me to accept myself and lowered my confidence greatly. I overcame this with my art, by drawing people who looked like me. When I get the opportunity to make fashion dolls I want to incorporate the diversity of all people. I wouldn’t want any other children to go through the same issues with self-confidence as I did. I plan to incorporate my studio arts degree, due to the value elements that are often taught with arts degrees. For example, taking a course in cultural art history can help me incorporate those diverse elements into creating fashion dolls. Of course, like any college degree, acquiring this knowledge would be quite expensive. I hope this award can benefit me in acquiring this necessary knowledge for my future endeavors. With my endeavors involving fashion dolls, I hope to inspire and uplift those children lacking representation in the media.