Akinyi Taylor Zaman

Akinyi Taylor Zaman

Akinyi is one of the many children that her biological mother had. After Akinyi was born, her mother surrendered her and she was put up for adoption by the state. She was adopted by Lattan Biscotto, the same Plumerian who had adopted Akinyi's biological older sister, September. September was ten years old when Akinyi was born, so she helped their adoptive mother to care for her and to babysit her as well. As sisters, they're very close and Akinyi greatly looks up to her big sister as well as respects her. As a child, her family would say that she was like the morning sun: bright, energetic, effusive, kind, hopeful, and with a sunny disposition. Akinyi has always been a pretty happy-go-lucky and outgoing child, but when she started school, she became very shy because she realized quite quickly that she was different from the other children and they made fun of her for it. Her mental disabilty meant that she acted differently from the other and because of this, she was often excluded from a great many things. 

Two of the few things that Akinyi found great comfort in were books and music. Whenever she had a rough day, she'd come home, turn on her radio, and dance for a bit to a good song. When she wasn't dancing and listening to music, she'd read. At school, the library was her refuge, a place where she felt safe from the bullies. When reading a story, she could immerse herself in a world where she felt safe and wouldn't be judged. Though she did eventually get medicated for her ADHD, she had a slight identity crisis since she was still quite young and wasn't sure how this mental disability fit in amongst her personality. She knew that it was what caused her to act out and talk more than most people did, but other than that, she didn't know too much about it. So she ended up becoming shy, burying herself inside herself to avoid judgement and ridicule. She became a master at hiding her ADHD that one of her high school teachers noted that they would never have been able to tell that she was ADHD if she hadn't told her.

Sadly, due to her shyness and general lack of trust in other children not to make fun of her, she didn't have very many friends. Though she did want friends. She yearned for the kind of best friend relationship that she saw other girls have where they could have sleep overs and things. Though she did have a few friends, none of them were her best friend, so she never had one person who she solidly hung out with. 

Perhaps it was due to this feeling that she started up a podcast in middle school, to get some sense of not being alone. She assumed a fake name for her show and used a voice modulator to disguise her voice, deciding that it would be best if she made herself anonymous. To her suprise, her show was a huge hit when she got into high school among other Plumerians within high school and middle school.