About me

Yaya Kittles is the founder of Bold Minds Academy, a digital school built around the history, culture, and genius of the global African diaspora.

Her day job is creative direction. For more than a decade she has led brand, digital experience, and technology work for some of the largest companies in the world. Today that work centers on AI: building AI workflows that help creative teams make better work faster, and leading accessibility so digital experiences work for everyone who uses them.

She started Bold Minds so children of the diaspora could see themselves at the center of what they learn. She is the author of the children's book Too Many Rules. Under her leadership, Bold Minds has written more than 100 K-6 lessons and released The African Countries Song, which covers all 54 countries, and Black Factx, a card game with more than 400 facts about Black history and culture.

Yaya believes our kids should grow up building AI, not just being shaped by it. The tools are new, but the questions behind them are old ones: who gets to make things, who gets seen, and who gets to decide. She wants every student who leaves her class to know those answers can include them.

In the classroom, she teaches the way she works: hands on, project first, and honest about what the tools can and can't do. Her students don't just learn about AI. They learn to question it, direct it, and build with it.

She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.