Amanda Gorman was the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017 and read “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, which went viral. In a 2017 New York Times profile piece, Gorman said that she plans to run for president in 2036. She was born and raised in Los Angeles by a single mother and also has a twin sister. Gorman grew up with an auditory processing disorder and a speech impediment. In regard to her disability, she stated in an interview with the Los Angeles Times: “But I don’t look at my disability as a weakness. It’s made me the performer that I am and the storyteller that I strive to be. When you have to teach yourself how to say sounds, when you have to be highly concerned about pronunciation, it gives you a certain awareness of sonics, of the auditory experience.” Explore more of Amanda Gorman’s poetry with her upcoming books: “The Hill We Climb” and “Changes Sing: A Children’s Anthem”.