Marley Dias is a purpose-driven 16-year-old founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks and author of Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! The 2021 Ambassador of National Educational Association (NEA) Read Across America. Host and Executive Producer of Netflix’s Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices.
Marley launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks drive in November of 2015, leveraging the power of social media to reach a larger audience. The goal was to collect 1,000 books featuring Black female protagonists by February 2016. The story went viral and was picked up by media outlets around the world as well as bloggers, schools, youth-focused organizations and millions of individuals who wanted to participate in the project. Marley has collected over 13,000 books to-date.
Marley has spoken at the White House’s United State of Women alongside Michelle Obama and Oprah, The Forbes Women’s Summit, United Nation’s Girl Up, Inbound, CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, the Social Innovation Summit and several others. Marley was recognized by TIME, as one of the 25 most influential teens in 2018.
In light of the campaign’s huge success, Marley has appeared on Ellen, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, The View, and several others. In her Editor in Residency at ELLE, Marley has been in conversation with Ava DuVernay, Misty Copeland and Hillary Clinton for Elle.com. Marley has been featured in a Microsoft Commercial, a Disney World Resorts digital campaign and a Walmart Black History Month campaign.
