Taylor Denise Richardson (born July 15, 2003; also known as Astronaut StarBright) is an American advocate, activist, speaker, student and philanthropist. She has crowdfunded over $40,000 to send girls to see the films A Wrinkle in Time and Hidden Figures. She attended Space Camp and has expressed interest in becoming an astronaut and doctor.
In 2015 she organised "Take A Flight with a Book", delivering books to elementary schools in Jacksonville, Florida. She won the Hands On Jax Youth in Action Award for community service.[9] Richardson was invited to attend a screening of Hidden Figures at the White House, where she met NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle.[10][11] Here, "Michelle Obama stated that we have to do the work and that we have to take a seat at the STEM table and bring others with us".[12][13] In 2016, Richardson raised $18,000 to send girls in her hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, to see Hidden Figures.[14][15] With the remaining proceeds, Richardson created a scholarship for Kaitlyn Ludlam to attend Space Camp.[16] In 2018 she raised over $50,000 to send 1,000 students to see the film A Wrinkle in Time.[17][18][19] She told Good Morning America she came up with the campaigns because "representation matters".[20]Oprah Winfrey agreed to match her funding, bringing the total to $100,000.[21]
Honors and recognition
Later that year, Richardson met astronaut Mae Jemison at the Clark Atlanta University graduation.[5] She attended the White House United State of Women Summit in June 2016.[22][5] She was appointed the 2016 "Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow’s Leaders Middle School" recipient.[23] In 2017 she was listed in Teen Vogue's "21 under 21".[24] She was also included in Glamour's "17 Young Women Who Created Real Change In 2017".[25] In April 2017 she spoke at the March for Science, where she said "Science is not a boy’s game, it’s not a girl’s game. It’s everyone’s game".[26] She was cast as a "#RealLifePowerpuff" girl by Hulu.[27] She was part of the Lottie Dolls campaign, "Inspired by Real Kids".[28][29] She featured on the cover of the Girls in Aviation Day September 2017.[30] In October, Richardson's story "Dreaming Big" was the cover story in Scholastic Science World.[31] She is a Generation WOW and W speaker.[32]Mashable described Richardson as the "coolest 14-year-old".[33] She was a keynote speaker at Silicon Republic's Inspire Fest.[34] She was listed as a Young Futurist by The Root.[35]
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