Hey, it's Latif from Radio Lab. Our goal with each episode is to make you think, how did I live this long and not know that?

Radio Lab, adventures on the edge of what we think we know. Listen, wherever you get podcasts.

You're back with the takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris Perry.

Now, you may remember Zayla Avant-Garde from this winning moment back in 2021.

Maria, M-U-R-R-R-A-A-Y-A.

That is correct.

At just 14 years old, Zayla became the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Beat.

But because Zaila is Black Girl Genius personified, that was not her first major accomplishment.

For my 13th birthday, I decided that I wanted to celebrate becoming a teenager to do a

Guinness World Record.

Zayla holds two Guinness World Records, both for different methods of basketball dribbling.

And her success led to some pretty special moments, like this one with basketball legend Sue Bird.

And let me be the first to congratulate you on being made Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year.

Hey, let's! I had no, I...

Yeah, congratulations!

I feel like winning scripts has put me on the platform where I can now just be a person for people to look at and see if she can do it.

She's just a normal girl.

I'm a normal girl, too.

I can do it.

So she's bringing everyone along and giving lessons on how to be awesome with not just one, but two new books. The first one is out now and it's titled,

it's not bragging if it's true, how to be awesome at life. The second one will be out in late June

and it's a children's book titled Words of Wonder from Z to A.

...