Meet Project Height Scholarship Recipient: Ayonnah Tinsley

Ayonnah Tinsley is a Junior at the University of Southern California studying Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation with a minor in Sports Media Industries. She is currently interning at Disney Accelerator to support the latest cohort of start-ups as Disney’s Demo Day approaches. She also worked with Nike LA this past semester in promoting wellness through events on USC’s campus that even had a guest appearance from Megan Thee Stallion.

Tinsley has also been focusing on STEM education advocacy through her page, “STEMix Sports” where she shares the science behind everyone’s favorite sports and the people that work in STEM and sports through her podcast, “STEMix Academy”. She’s gotten the opportunity to talk about STEMix and the science of braiding hair at USC Talks, a TED-talk styled event and with Geena Davis and Miranda Cosgrove during the “Her 2.0” event. This is an event to celebrate diverse representation in STEM media and how it can inspire younger audiences. The impact of the $10,000 award to Ayonnah from the partnership that the Dorothy Height Education Foundation has with Meta Corporation will help her be able to enjoy her senior year as she works to innovate how we think about and style Black hair during her class on start-ups.