Mary Cuffy

When most kids think of a “su­per­hero,” they pic­ture capes, laser beams, or speedy cars. But for 13-year-old (soon-to-be 14) Jade Mejias, the re­al su­per­hero lives on top of her head, her big, beau­ti­ful Afro! Jade wrote My Su­per Hairo: Why I Love My Afro Hair when she was just 12 years old. Her sto­ry has al­ready in­spired thou­sands of chil­dren to cel­e­brate the hair they were born with, and it all start­ed with a per­son­al jour­ney of self-love.

A Lit­tle Girl’s Big Ques­tion

At age eight, Jade loved watch­ing videos of girls with long, straight hair. She be­gan to won­der if her own tight curls and coils were “the right kind” of beau­ti­ful. “I kept com­par­ing my hair to what I saw on the screen,” Jade says. “I felt a lit­tle sad be­cause I thought maybe I wasn’t pret­ty.”

Luck­i­ly, Jade’s mom cre­at­ed a hap­py, af­firm­ing home where Afro-cen­tric books, pic­tures, and role mod­els filled the walls. She en­cour­aged Jade to see the mag­ic in her nat­ur­al hair, and she mod­elled con­fi­dence every day. Slow­ly, Jade start­ed to love her crown, and she want­ed to share that feel­ing with the world.

From a Jour­nal

to a Book

When Jade was 12, she de­cid­ed to turn her per­son­al sto­ry in­to a book. She wrote about a young girl who goes on a fun ad­ven­ture to dis­cov­er the “su­per­pow­ers” hid­den in every curl and coil. With help from her mom, Jade self-pub­lished My Su­per Hairo: Why I Love My Afro Hair. The book quick­ly found its way on­to the shelves of ma­jor book­stores and in­to li­braries across To­ba­go. In just a short time, it earned Jade a First Au­thor Award and lots of hap­py read­er smiles.

What’s In­side the Book?

My Su­per Hairo is more than a pic­ture book; it’s a colour­ful cel­e­bra­tion of hair, cul­ture, and con­fi­dence. Read­ers fol­low Jade (the char­ac­ter) as she:

• Ex­plores a mag­i­cal king­dom where each curl holds a se­cret pow­er.

• Learns easy, kid-friend­ly hair­care tips (like how to keep coils mois­turised and hap­py).

• Dis­cov­ers fun facts about the his­to­ry and beau­ty of Afro hair.

• Meets friends who teach her that “your hair is your crown, and you are the queen (or king) of your own sto­ry.”

The pages burst with bright il­lus­tra­tions, play­ful rhymes, and a warm mes­sage: “You are enough, just the way you are!” The sto­ry feels like a friend­ly hug, re­mind­ing kids that lov­ing them­selves is the great­est su­per­pow­er they can have.

Kids Are Lov­ing It!

Since its re­lease, My Su­per Hairo has be­come a favourite in class­rooms, li­braries, and liv­ing rooms. Par­ents tell Jade that af­ter read­ing the book, their chil­dren walk around proud­ly show­ing off their nat­ur­al hair. Young read­ers, es­pe­cial­ly those un­der ten, say they feel more con­fi­dent and hap­py when they look in the mir­ror. The book has been fea­tured in lo­cal news in­ter­views, and Jade has been in­vit­ed to speak at com­mu­ni­ty events. “It makes my heart smile when I hear that a kid feels brave enough to wear their hair the way they want,” Jade shares. “That’s the biggest award I could ever get.”

More Than an Au­thor

When Jade isn’t writ­ing, she’s busy danc­ing bal­let, paint­ing colour­ful pic­tures, and dream­ing up new sto­ries. She has a unique artis­tic out­look, and she loves ex­press­ing her­self through many cre­ative chan­nels. One of her biggest dreams is to open an an­i­mal shel­ter some­day. “An­i­mals need love and care, just like we do,” she says. “I want to give them a safe place where they can be hap­py and healthy.” Jade’s com­pas­sion for both peo­ple and an­i­mals shows how pow­er­ful a kind heart can be.

Your Turn to Be a Su­per Hairo!

Jade’s mes­sage is sim­ple: You are enough, just as you are. She hopes every child who reads her book will re­mem­ber these three things:

1. Love your nat­ur­al hair. It’s spe­cial, strong, and to­tal­ly unique, ex­act­ly like you!

2. Cel­e­brate dif­fer­ences. When we ap­pre­ci­ate the things that make us dif­fer­ent, we make the world brighter.

3. Be kind to your­self. Speak kind­ly to your­self, just as you would to a good friend.

Jade’s sto­ry proves that even a child can make a big dif­fer­ence. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll write a book, paint a mas­ter­piece, or open a shel­ter for pets. What­ev­er you choose, re­mem­ber: your crown is al­ready on your head. Wear it proud­ly!

Mary Cuffy is an ed­u­ca­tor and lo­cal chil­dren’s au­thor. Ms Cuffy is the au­thor of the La­dy­bug book se­ries. Ms Cuffy be­lieves the best in­vest­ment we can make in chil­dren is in the ear­ly years. Email: mary.cuffy@ya­hoo.com• IG: marycuffy • FB: mary cuffy/Lo­la and the Danc­ing La­dy­bug