ABOUT
Racial Literacy For Every American
We started CHOOSE in 2014 because we weren't talking about race. At the same time, we realized that every part of our daily lives—from our neighborhoods to our friend groups—were shaped by racial division.
We began by listening to people's stories and sharing them on this website. A year later, we published all of them, paired with statistics and systematic context, in one textbook-toolkit called The Classroom Index. We called our model a bridge for the "heart-mind gap" in our TED Talk here.
Now, we've traveled to all 50 states, collecting stories about race, culture, and intersectionality for our next book, Tell Me Who You Are. CHOOSE is a recently registered non-profit, and 100% of author proceeds go directly toward CHOOSE. We are still working to provide every American—and particularly K-12 educators and students—with the tools for effective conversations about race.
We imagine every school in the United States requiring racial and intersectional literacy curriculum, especially by supporting our educators—that way, young people like us can grow up not only proud of their backgrounds, but caring about the communities we share. We imagine racial literacy as a 21st century life skill. We imagine us all collaborating to co-create a shared American culture that is loving and honest. That's the story of our nation we seek to share one day.
Thank you to all those who have supported us on our journey here—and as we continue to get to work!
WINONA GUO & PRIYA VULCHI
CHOOSE Co-Founders/Co-Presidents
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Co-Founders/Co-Presidents
Priya + Winona
We traveled to all 50 states to gather stories from over 500 incredible human beings about how race, culture, and intersectionality have impacted their lives. We couldn’t have done it without these amazing humans. Thank you to our incredible advisors, donors, hosts, and everyone who was courageous enough to share their story. Below, meet the team members who worked directly on the book with us.
TranscriberS
Tabitha Rucker, Natalie Marinides, Shane Spring, Nayha Zahid
Taylor Whittington, Najma Dayib, Mckim Jean Pierre, Anna Cincotta
Jennifer Nguyen, Isabella Nuñez, Khadeeja Qureshi, Sabrina Roberts
Eric Holdhusen, Darya Tahvildar-Zadeh, Jasmine Lyte, Gabrielle Myers
Michaela Guo, Raisa Rubin Stankiewicz, Yasna Vismale, Nancy Wilson
Kiara Kunnes, Kimi Kobayashi, Yoselin Hernandez, Amy Huang
Connie Cai, Cassia Cai, Brenna Miller,
Rin Nagano
Marina Curchitser
not pictured: Priyanka Nanayakkara, Lee Linde
EDITORS
Neha Shah, Dione King, Protim Adhikari, Ethan Frisch
Brian Fong, Jocelyn Jimenez, Eran DeSilva, Marie DeAngelo
Ophelia Hu-Kinney, Sybil Hampton, Linda Oppenheim, Hunter Taylor
Nikko Viquiera, Milton Reynolds, Corrine Sanchez, Kelcy Bentley
John Kirk, DeJon Jordan, Sara Fairley, Andrew Bentley
Annah Kuriakose
MENTORS
Professional Advisory Board: Allison Bland, Howard Stevenson, Nishat Ruiter, Ruha Benjamin, Roberto Schiraldi, Simona Brickers, John Cutsinger, Eduardo Cadava, Shirley Satterfield, Jennifer Lea Cohan, John Steele, Joshua Guild, Saraswathi Shukla, Julie Meyers, Kareen Ross, Karen Griffin, Kristina Donovan, Neha Shah, Timothy Campbell, Protim Adhikari, Timothy Charleston, Linda Oppenheim, Liz Vogel, Martha Sandweiss, Marie DeAngelo, Ethan Frisch, Jocelyn Jimenez, Steve Cochrane, Thomas Safian
PAST CONTRIBUTORS
Ayesha Qureshi, Abby Emison, Hamza Nishtar, Brian Li, Sage Adams
Visual designs by Marie Louise James