Published On: 09.19.22 | 

By: Tamika Moore

People of Alabama: DeZaray and Zakiya Richey of Guntersville

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Sisters Zakiya, left, and DeZaray Richey of Guntersville started Canvas Queens to inspire and empower young women. (Tamika Moore / People of Alabama)

“We were all in the car, and my sister was like, we should start our own girls group, so we got all of our friends together. We decided to make it diverse for everybody to come. We started it in 2017. I’m proud that right now we’re going to be who we want to be. Like my friend, she wants to be in the FBI, and she’s taking FBI classes. I want to be an engineer, so I might switch some of my classes to be in engineering classes. I like coding, my favorite part, because if you mess up, it’s like, ‘Oh, I need to figure it out, get inside and fix it yourself.’ I would like to see more people doing coding because they’re usually back in the background and it’s usually men. I can do the same thing.” – DeZaray Richey, 15, of Guntersville

DeZaray was with her sister Zakiya, 14. Their group is called Canvas Queens.

Zakiya Richey, left, wants to be a doctor and DeZaray Richey wants to be an engineer. (Tamika Moore / People of Alabama)

“We lead, inspire and empower young women to become whoever they want to be in life, speak up for themselves and never doubt themselves to be confident,” said Zakiya.

Zakiya likes taking care of people and wants to be a doctor one day.

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.