Marley Dias was born on January 4, 2005 and is an American activist and writer. When Dias was in the 6th grade, she launched a campaign, in November 2015,  called #1000BlackGirlBooks to collect 1,000 books with black female protagonists to donate for black girls at other schools.

When Dias was 11, she complained to her mother that all of her mandatory readings were books about white boys and dogs. She said, “There wasn’t really any freedom for me to read what I wanted.”  Dias released a book, Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You!, under Scholastic in the spring of 2018 which tells how Dias explored activism, social justice, volunteerism, equity and inclusion, and using social media for good.

In September of 2020, Dias hosted her first Netflix show that was revealed in September called “Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices” in which Dias serves as the host and executive producer of the series, whose books and conversations center on themes of identity, respect, justice and action. Guests include: Chicago native, rapper, actor and writer Common; actor and author Lupita Nyong’o; comedian, actor and author Tiffany Haddish.

Since 2021, Dias has been the Ambassador for the National Education Association’s Read Across America program.