Teen entrepreneur and activist Maya Penn is Auditorium Speaker at 2016 ALA Annual Conference

For Immediate Release
Thu, 01/28/2016

Contact:

Amy McGuigan

Conference Manager

ALA Conference Services

amcguigan@ala.org

Remarkable teen entrepreneur and activist Maya Penn’s TEDWomen Talk has been viewed more than 1,200,000 million times (and is one of the top 15 TEDWomen Talks of all time). She has already given three TED Talks, created her own eco-friendly fashion line, developed animated films, is an award-winning philanthropist, a girls’ rights and environmental activist, and an artist, coder, illustrator, and writer. This inspiring young woman will appear as an Auditorium Speaker at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday, June 25, 3:30-4:30pm.

Penn is the CEO of Maya’s Ideas, a company she started in 2008 when she was just eight years old; 10-20% of the profits go to local and global charities and environmental organizations. Her nonprofit, Maya’s Ideas 4 The Planet, contributes to girls in developing countries. She also helps girls pursue their passions in technology and STEM fields. She has been featured in Forbes, Time, NPR, CNN, O Magazine, Essence, The View, The Steve Harvey Show, Huffington Post, The NRDC, Entrepreneur Magazine, Wired, Black Enterprise, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and many other publications. In her forthcoming inspirational handbook, You Got This! Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, and Change Your World  (April 2016, North Star Way), Penn shares her journey and provides a creative blueprint for teens and young adults, along with the tools she has used to build an authentic, exciting, successful, and connected life.

Penn’s appearance at the conference is sponsored by Simon & Schuster.

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