Biography

Saniya Symone

Saniya-Symone is a 16-year-old from Houston, Texas who began her aspirations of acting and modeling at the age of 5. Saniya began her quest to become an entrepreneur at 4 years old when she asked her mom if she could write a book and start a lemonade stand. Four years later, she began a children’s empowerment company with one of her good friends, Kamryn. Nicknamed “Kam & Niya”, the Kam & Niya Children Empowerment Network focuses on building a pipeline of young leaders and entrepreneurs. Through this company, Saniya travels to different conferences and schools to discuss with children about setting goals and believing that anything can be accomplished – even at a young age. Their company drew the attention of the producers of the Emmy Nominated Fox daytime talk show, “The Real” where Saniya was a guest and a Black History correspondent throughout the month of February 2016 for a segment titled, “Black HERstory”. Saniya is the co-author and illustrator of a children’s cookbook storybook titled, Cooking in Style, which was published in January of 2016. She plays the violin and performs poetry from various historical figures such as Maya Angelou. She has performed at multiple youth conferences, school plays, and has appeared in Houston area magazines, advertisements, theatre, and runway fashion shows. Saniya has been featured on Great Day Houston, Houston’s Fox 26, ABC 13, KHOU 11, MadameNoire, Junior Style London, and was featured on the cover of the 1st issue of Mocha Kid Magazine. In 2017, Saniya had the opportunity to work as an extra on the GWN hit television series, Underground. Recently, Saniya has been featured in commercials and corporate videos for companies such as Dell Computers and MD Anderson. She is extremely active in community service as she volunteers on a regular basis at community centers and schools through a non-profit founded by her mom called, Diamond Footprints, Inc (501C3). In 2019, Saniya was nominated and presented with the Kidpreneur of the Year Award by Eyeconic Television. Saniya served as 2018 Preteen Miss Southwest Texas through the Ultimate Beauty of America pageant system where she competed and won the national title of 2019 Miss Preteen Ultimate Beauty of America.