Young Monroeville author discusses book

Fourteen-year-old Kasia Cunningham, a local author and Gateway student, led a discussion on her book, “Growing Up Divided,” at Monroeville Public Library on May 25.

The book chronicles her early life, raised in two conflicting households and educated in two distinct school districts. Despite experiences with bullying and discrimination, she remained determined to pursue her goals.

Before writing her book, she already launched a cosmetics brand, Kosmo Galore, which offers vegan and cruelty-free products.

During the pandemic, Cunningham began a three-month process of learning how to make lip glosses. Little did she know in 2020 how far that hobby would take her.

She has participated in Shine Beauty Academy’s showcase, sold her glosses at seasonal markets and hosted pop-up shops. Cunningham also received second place at the “Soaring Shark Tank” run by Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship in 2022.

“The mission of my business is to make people feel confident in their own skin without chemicals,” she said. “Kosmo Galore is for all ages, races, and genders.”

Cunningham is proud that her lip glosses and balms are vegan, cruelty-free, and sustainable.

Each gloss and balm comes in a reusable tube. The gloss-making process takes about one to two days for her as she makes 270 glosses at a time. She also has plans to create an eye shadow palette.

She markets her products on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. All information about her products and services can be found at www.kosmogalore.com.

As for what she hopes people get out of her book, she believes that it can impact both children and adults.

“My book is meant to let everyone know that they are not alone, from kids my age hoping that they can get through this to parents who might be putting their kids through something similar without even knowing it,” Cunningham said.

The writing process for “Growing Up Divided” was about six to seven months. The book features original poetry, which Cunningham said functioned as a creative outlet for her to express her emotions.

She started thinking seriously about poetry as a sixth-grader, when she won a contest for best poem.

Cunningham has struggled with staying true to herself as she went from being a person of color dealing with racism in a non-diverse school system to a more diverse system where kids thought she “wasn’t Black enough.”

“It feels good to share my story, but it can be hard sometimes when the people around you are jealous or don’t understand what you’re doing because they’re on a different journey than you,” she said.

Through it all, her biggest supporter and motivator has been her mom.

She plans to transfer out of Gateway and finish her high school experience while continuing to promote her business.

Cunningham is excited to start working on her second book, as well. The focal point is to give more insight into her life as it is now and how far she has come. The second book will also include more poetry.

She expressed interest in attending a historically Black college or university, such as Howard or Spelman, for writing, and a trade school for cosmetology.

If she could go back and give herself some advice, she would say not to worry so much about others’ opinions.

“I feel like my biggest struggle was fear of what people would think. Letting me be me and not caring what other people think has made a big difference in myself,” Cunningham said.