Moxie Girl is unlike any superhero we’ve seen thus far.
Created by 7-year-old Jacksonville, Florida native Natalie McGriff, the pint-sized heroine uses a magical shampoo to transform her hair into super strength afro puffs in addition to delivering an all important message of self acceptance to little black girls everywhere.
The idea came about when Natalie’s mom, Angie Nixon, noticed her daughter was having some self-esteem issues. The two sat down and created the character as an alter ego to build Natalie’s confidence and encourage her to read more often.
“I decided to help Natalie write this book because she was having self-esteem issues regarding her hair and she hated to read,” Nixon said. “She now realizes how powerful and awesome her hair is and that in order for her to write a cool book, she needs to read more books and learn different words.”
Since creating the character and putting together a book, The Adventures of Moxie Girl, McGriff has won top honors at One Spark, a popular crowd-funding festival where attendees pay an entry fee and then vote on how the money should be distributed among contestants. McGriff and Moxie Girl beat out 530 others to take home more than $16,000.
In spite of the book’s positive message, the project has been subjected to some racially charged cyberbullying with anonymous comments directed at them. Nixon said she wont tell Natalie about the negative posts, but they only serve as motivation for her to spread the word even more about Moxie Girl.
“They’re saying things like we’re monkeys, we have fur, we’re not going to use the money to publish the book, we’re going to use the money to eat watermelon, and drink Kool-Aid and go to KFC,” Nixon said. “This is driving me to get Natalie’s message out there further.”
Natalie said she hopes the book helps little girls to love themselves.
“I just want them to love their hair the way it is, natural, and they should love to read,” she said. “It’s really about overcoming insecurities and being proud of who you are.”
The Adventures of Moxie Girl is scheduled to be released in June.
