7-Year-Old Wins $16K For Her Comic Book, The Adventures of Moxie Girl

When 7-year-old Natalie McGriff started to express insecurities about her hair, her mother, Angela Nixon, knew that something needed to be done about it. The duo created The Adventures of Moxie Girl — a comic book about a little girl who hates her hair until she uses a magic shampoo that gives her superpowers. Moxie Girl uses her new powers to save the Jacksonville Public Library from being eaten by monsters, a storyline that developed out of Angela wanting to encourage Natalie to love reading.

The comic was submitted to One Spark, a crowdfunding festival, and beat out 530 other entries for a $16,000 prize. Angela told the New Pittsburgh Courier, "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."

The comic book will be officially released this June and will hopefully inspire other children to love to read and find ways to overcome their insecurities.