21 Under 21: Havana Edwards Is 7 Years Old and Out to Change the World

Havana Edwards is part of Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 class of 2018, which spotlights extraordinary young women, girls, and femmes making waves in their industries or passions of choice.

“A girl with a book is a girl that is unstoppable.” If you’re wracking your brain to remember where you heard that quote, you can stop: It came straight from the mouth of seven-year-old Havana Edwards.

Havana first made headlines in March, as one of the youngest members of the nationwide cohort of students asking for gun control change. Dressed in an orange astronaut suit, Havana was the only student at her Alexandria, Virginia, elementary school to join the National School Walkout on April 20, and an image of her sitting alone that day quickly caught people’s attention on social media. "I want to help the big kids and adults and show them I support them as much as I can until I am old enough to vote," Havana told Teen Vogue at the time.

Months later, she says little has changed with the students at her school, though she still invites friends to many of the events she’s involved in. Havana doesn’t feel quite as alone, though, because she’s also made friends within the gun control movement, including 12-year-old Naomi Wadler, another 21 Under 21 honoree. Earlier this year, Havana was photographed with some of these friends for the cover of Time magazine’s “Guns in America” issue (see if you can spot her).

The attention has also benefited Havana’s other projects. As the daughter of an international-school teacher and a member of the Air Force, she’s traveled the world and lived in five different countries. During these travels, she’s seen the tremendous impact of education on young girls’ lives. “I have been to 26 countries, and there are so many girls that are not in school,” Havana says. “I speak out for better gun laws because they have big dreams just like me, and they deserve to conquer them, but clean water, gun violence, and climate change are all keeping girls out of school.”

Although these issues are a lot to handle, Havana is promoting a simple yet powerful solution: literacy and getting books in the hands of girls worldwide. After her image went viral post-walkout, Havana started a GoFundMe account to finance a book club, which went from $800 to $6,000, triple her goal, in about 24 hours. She also used her newfound fame to aid a GoFundMe account started with her friend (and former 21 Under 21 honoree) Taylor Richardson, which raised money to buy supplies for girls at an orphanage in Ghana.

When asked to imagine 21 years from now, Havana has big hopes for the proliferation of the work she’s doing. “I'm doing the book club right now, and in 21 years, I'm hoping to see that girls are doing their own book clubs and donating books to kids and girls,” she tells us. “Girls really need to see themselves in books and know that their future is unlimited. I think that girls can conquer their big, giant dreams and they won't ever be silent.”

And yes, she wants to go to space, too.