7-Year-Old Writes Comic Empowering Girls of Color; Wins $16K [VIDEO]

Time for the warm fuzzies.

Natalie McGriff, a seven-year-old from Florida, expressed to her mother that she hated two things: Reading…and the texture of her natural hair.

“I didn’t like it because I wanted it straight, and I saw everybody with straight hair,” she told ABC News. “And reading was boring to me.”

Hoping to change her daughter’s mind — and boost her self-esteem — Angela Nixon, Natalie’s mom, came up with the idea of creating a comic book, and thus “The Adventures of Moxie Girl” was born.

According to ABC News:

[I]n December, Nixon said she and Natalie created a superhero named Moxie, which is slang for “the ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.”

Moxie, who’s based on Natalie, is a girl who doesn’t like her hair at first, Natalie said.

“But she gets this shampoo from her godmother that gives her hair superpowers, and she saves her local library from monsters trying to eat the books,” Natalie added.

Realizing this could help more than just her young daughter, Nixon created a crowdfunding page on One Spark, hoping to get it published. One Spark actually held a festival on April 12, and Natalie and her mom presented their comic book — and they won!

“We want girls of color to know they’re awesome, that they have moxie and that they’re young queens who should be proud of who they are and who they represent,” Nixon said. “Love yourselves, love your hair, your skin color. You’re beautiful and awesome.”

They received a little over $16,000 to help them publish “Moxie Girl,” which is expected to be available in June. Nixon says she’s already gotten inquiries from all over the world, but she does not yet know how widely available the comic book will be.