About Author Ziraili Crawford
It’s not just a name
The short story of how I got my name Ziraili Marie Crawford. My mother was married and her last name at the time was Crawford. My mother wanted to pay homage to her ancestral roots which are of predominately African origins on both her mother and father’s side, however she wanted to pay homage to her creator while selecting her daughter’s name. “God” being a good source and friend is why she came up with the idea that my name had to represent both of her interests. My mother scoured the internet in search for African baby girl names that were of African and Spiritual connotation.
After searching for weeks through thousands and thousands of names and their meanings, listed from A-Z, she found my name and it’s meaning way at the back of the long list of names she had printed out from online. She really did her research. She said she even fact -checked the meanings to make sure it didn’t mean one thing good in one language but something unfavorable in another language. She said that she knew when she saw my name that I would be called Ziraili [Zaer•rail•lee ] and “Marie” comes from my mother’s middle name, so I’m a jr. in that right. Ziraili is Nigerian in its origin and feminine.
People don’t usually have a hard time pronouncing my name properly on the first try and almost everyone has told me my entire life that it is a beautiful name. It took some time for me to understand why my name was beautiful to people, but now that I’m older I really appreciate the time my mother took to give me such a meaningful, loving name. Thanks mother.
- Ziraili Marie “Pretty Baby” Crawford
Ziraili’s Story
Born in Jackson, Mississippi. Ziraili M. Crawford 17, is an introverted-extrovert (ambivert) junior in high school, who loves reading, writing, acting, storytelling, gymnastics, ballet, dance and drawing. As the captain of her high school dance team, it is clear that Ziraili is multi-talented but her heart lays closest to the dream of being a movie star, slash director, slash screenwriter, slash producer. Yes, she wants to pursue all of the above and so many people who personally know her, truly believes that she will! Ziraili is currently a junior in high school and she has already attended college as a dual enrollment student at Southern University of New Orleans. Ziraili is currently perusing an International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) . Ziraili is a paid actress who has done theater work at the age of 15 years old. Ziraili was tested by the state of Louisiana and was found to be exceptionally gifted in theater arts.
She currently works a part time job that she loves so that she can save up money to go to see a broadway play in person this summer. She genuinely loves God and Roblox.
Ziraili is a pet lover who would love nothing more than to be a veterinarian if all else fails. Ziraili has a big brother whom she loves dearly named Tiren Antony, another entrepreneur himself. She is the youngest and second child and only daughter to her mother Tina Marie. Ziraili has a pet cat named Gracie that she cares for daily.
Ziraili has been writing short stories and drawing just for fun ever since she could hold a pen. She would jump between drawing and writing and it was clearly her place(s) of solace and peace, so her mother started to take note.
“Ziraili use to go through a whole pack of my printer paper within a month’s time. I use to get so aggravated that she would use up all of my printer paper. Even her school tablets were filled with drawings and I would have to constantly buy school supplies throughout the school year. I remember I use to have to buy a secret stash of printer paper, just so I could have something to print things on.” Said her mother in an interview.
Tina Marie decided that it was best she cultivate her daughters talents and interest instead of being upset with Ziraili , so one day Ziraili’s mother purchased her an adult sized easel, drawing pens, drawing markers, stencils, two 10lb spools of sketch paper so that she could cultivate drawing and a new lap top So that she could cultivate her writing. Tina Marie purchased books , movies, magazines, shared articles, videos, hired coaches to further help Ziraili in her quest to be one of the greatest actresses and/or directors of her time.
Consistency and inspiration to draw or write short stories was never hard to find even though Ziraili struggled with issues that made it hard for her to focus, she still persevered with ever so much promise in her eyes and faith in her soul. She pushed herself past her comfort zone whenever the challenge required her to do so. Ziraili has won several acting and monologue competitions.
How and why did you transition from writing short stories?
”My mom. It’s kind of embarrassing. I would always share my short stories with my mother and she would always be invested in the storyline, the plot twists, the characters and everything. Then one day she said I don’t want to hear anymore stories if you aren’t going to finish them. That was actually a way that we regularly bonded. Most mothers and daughters would grab some popcorn, turn off the lights, snuggle up under blanky’s, select a movie and proceed to ignore each other for two hours. Not us! We get so animated, wild and loud. My mom and I actually enjoy interacting and we would co-write book and movie scenes verbally. She would even redefine or amplify the purpose of some of my characters. My mother loves to talk so she would interchangeably go from lecturing and teaching me and then back to guiding and verbally co-creating with me to show me how to broaden my discovery of characters and events in my stories. She told me to think of each book as you write it as if it’s going to be a movie. She taught me how to create suspense and how not to give it all away by the end of chapter 2. She would help me to repurpose them, like she would turn my villain into a heroine or the job title of a character would get demoted. We had fun with it and she would always tell , matter of fact she always urged me to finish the story and I never would because I had so many ideas boiling over inside of me that I would get started on one short story and then share the incomplete version with her and that’s kind of how her adding to my stories came about because I rarely would finish them so she would give me ideas and it would turn into a all out fictional , whimsical awakening of ideas reimagined. So when she began to feel that she was enabling me and my growth in writing, she vowed not to listen to any new stories unless I had finished at least one in the form of a book. My mom told me that I need to finish something. Finish what you start Ziraili, you don’t want to be one of those people with a million ideas that never go anywhere with them. She told me that I would feel really good about myself if I finished one of them. She believed in me so much that she insisted that I share my talent with the world and not just with her. So, I began to write a completely different book and my mother remembered one of her favorite incomplete books that I had written and she suggested that I -not start a new book, but to finish “What Happened To Blake?” Because even she wanted to know what happened to her. So I did.”
Where do you think your inspiration comes from?
”I think that my mother and my faith has been one of my biggest influences and inspiration.”
Unfortunately Ziraili has witnessed her mother beat three years of homelessness, unemployment, domestic violence and yet she still persevered.
Fortunately Ziraili has also watched her leave that abusive relationship, put herself back in college at 37 years old, graduate college during covid, and start a business all while working and supporting Ziraili’s dreams.
Ziraili’s mother loves to talk, lecture and teach. “My mother is a “quote-tist”, she always says things to me that makes me feel inspired, I feel empowered by her words so much and she doesn’t even realize she’s impacting me so efficiently. I call her a quote-tist because when she gets to speaking …you know it’s something that you should be writing down on paper; to not only revisit for personal use but to share with others.” Her words and the passion she puts behind them and the actions she puts behind the passion is what made me. ”
If you ever want to know what a star being born looks like ,well you missed your chance with this one. Her birth happened back in 2006; she’s already here. Thanks for having her. She loves her fans to pieces.
Interviewed by : Geek Passions PR Team (2024)
Visual Impressions: A Gallery of Things and People that interest ziraili M. crawford
