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Rania Zuri

625

Bold Points

1x

Finalist

1x

Winner

Bio

Rania Zuri is the founder and CEO of The LiTEArary Society, the world’s largest youth-led nonprofit organization working to end book deserts for disadvantaged preschool children. To date, The LiTEArary Society has donated more than $423,000 worth of brand new books to over 36,000 disadvantaged preschool children in all 50 states. The LiTEArary Society has partnerships and has received funding from Scholastic, Inc., Barnes & Noble, Hershey’s, Pilot Pens, and Starbucks. For her work in early childhood literacy, she has been featured on Good Morning America, Forbes, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, The Today Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, NPR, Fox News, Teen Vogue, and more. She was named by Forbes as one of "Six Teens Making the World a Better Place” in 2022 and made the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2024 as the youngest CEO on the entire list. She is the youngest author of a US Senate Resolution and has written a children’s picture book series (sold in-store at select Barnes & Noble stores) where 100% of the profits go to the purchase of brand-new Scholastic books for preschool children in Head Start programs.

Education

Morgantown High School

High School
2020 - 2024

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Bachelor's degree program

  • Majors of interest:

    • Political Science and Government
  • Not planning to go to medical school
  • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Public Policy

    • Dream career goals:

      US Secretary of Education or Director of National Head Start

    • For my work in early childhood literacy and education, I was featured on Good Morning America, Forbes, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, The Today Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, NPR, Fox News, and more.

      The LiTEArary Society
      2021 – Present3 years
    • UNA-USA Global Goals Ambassador for the UN Sustainable Development Goal of a Quality Education (SDG 4), 1 year Fellowship term

      United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA)
      2023 – 20241 year
    • Intern in the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology

      Smithsonian
      2022 – 20231 year
    • 2 op-eds for Teen Vogue, 1 op-ed for NBC News Online, 2 poems published in Appalachian Journal and the Northern Appalachian Review

      Writer (Journalism) and Poet for Teen Vogue and NBC News ONline
      2022 – Present2 years
    • TEDx Speaker, April 2022, topic: Ending Book Deserts, TEDx talk has over 42,000 views on TED.com/Youtube combined NPR Speaker/Guest on NPR 1A for over 4 million listeners live April 2023 NPR Speaker on NPR’s Inside Appalachia, February 2023

      Public Speaker
      2022 – Present2 years
    • My bipartisan US Senate Resolution established a commemorative day on October 20th called “National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness Day,” which passed on the Senate floor with unanimous consent.

      Youngest Author of a United States Senate Resolution in US History.
      2022 – Present2 years

    Research

    • Education, General

      WVU — Researcher
      2022 – 2023

    Arts

    • Appalachian children’s picture book series (3 books- World of Billy Bob Series)

      Illustration
      2020 – Present

    Public services

    • Volunteering

      The LiTEArary Society — Founder and CEO of The LiTEArary Society- donated more than $423,000 worth of brand new books to over 36,000 disadvantaged preschool children in all 50 states.
      2019 – Present

    Future Interests

    Advocacy

    Politics

    Volunteering

    Philanthropy

    Entrepreneurship