“In Tell Me Who You Are, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo do exactly that— tell us who they are, how they have come to thinking so carefully, so deeply about race, and how they want to create change.” — Roxanne Gay, New York Times Bestselling author

In sophomore year of high school, Winona Guo (they/them) co-founded the non-profit, CHOOSE (chooseorg.org, @choose_org), with the goal of advocating for racial literacy curricula in U.S. K-12 schools. Alongside their friend Priya Vulchi, they co-wrote a 224-page racial-literacy textbook, which was funded by Princeton University and featured in Teen Vogue. They then took a gap year before college at Princeton University, fundraising and interviewing people across the country about their experiences with race. Winona co-authored book, Tell Me Who You Are (TarcherPerigee, 2019), features stories from the journey and was called “at once hopeful, raw, and brimming with curiosity, engagement and youthful energy” by the writer Roxane Gay. TMWYA is one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Nonfiction of 2019 and Penguin Random House’s top Common Reads, employed as first-year reading by universities nationwide.

Along the way, Winona was named among Teen Vogue’s 21 under 21 Young People Changing the World, Bitch Media’s 50 Most Influential Feminists, and the youngest TED Residents ever. They have spoken at dozens of venues, including at TEDWomen in 2017 (the talk, “What it takes to be racially literate,” has over 1 million views), TED Residency 2018, United Nations’ Girl Up Conference, Gucci’s Chime for Change Conference, NEA’s Racial and Social Justice Conference, MSAN, SERC, MTI, Google, GoPro, and over a dozen schools nationwide. Winona has been represented by All-American Speakers, TED Speakers Bureau, Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau, and Authors Unbound. In 2022, they graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude, majoring in English and African American Studies and minoring in East Asian Studies. They have been featured in the BBC, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, Scholastic, Bustle, and more. Winona is now 24 years old.

Winona's Featured Titles

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Racial Literacy in the 21st Century

1 hour talk: 45 min presentation, 15 min Q&A
Two youth advocates share their journey traveling to all 50 U.S. states in support of racial literacy in American K-12 schools.

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Youth Activism in Our Public Schools

1 hour talk: 45 min presentation, 15 min Q&A
Tell Me Who You Are authors share their journey as high school students seeking to make a difference in their community.

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Winona’s TED Link

Winona & Priya’s Non-Profit Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Youngest resident in the TED Residency Program with Priya Vulchi
Named one of Teen Vogue’s 21 under 21 Young People Changing the World
Two of Bitch Media’s 50 Most Influential Feminists

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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