By Hannah Evans
Zaniyah Clayborne was a 10th grader at Murrah High School when her mom, Marqueta Perkins, started working at The Women’s Foundation of Mississippi. “This job gave her more flexibility to do her work and still be a mom,” the daughter says. Her mom would often pick Clayborne up from school because her office and the school were so close.
Since both of Clayborne’s brothers were already at home, she would sit in her mother’s office until 5 or sometimes 6 o’clock. “Most of the time I could just sit on my phone, but some days when she had a lot to do, she didn’t let me just sit and play on my phone. She put me to work,” Clayborne says. She spent the last hours of her mother’s work day filing and organizing.
While getting ready for bed, Clayborne witnessed her mother staying up all night working on spreadsheets to make sure she had the flexibility during the day to take care of Clayborne and her brothers. “ I would go to get some water, and she would still be in her office working at midnight,” she says. “She would be working on things that she could do during the day—because she had to be a mom.”
“Growing up, before my dad moved back in, my mom was all me and my brother had,” says Clayborne, who cites her mom as her biggest inspiration. “My mom is the most hard-working person I know. I would say the reason I’m resourceful is because of my mom. I figure out how to make things work with what I have. Being the only two girls in the house, me and my mom are really close.
She is also close with her brothers, Patrick Clayborne, age 21, and Kevin Clayborne, 16.
Clayborne is a recent graduate of Lanier High School, where she transferred from Murrah High School her junior year. Lanier was much smaller than Murrah, and the work wasn’t as challenging, so her grades went up. Before attending Lanier and Murrah, she attended Wells APAC Elementary School, where she met her closest friend.
“I met my best friend Whitney Jones when we were in fifth grade. Meeting her was one time where kindness really changed my life,” the recent graduate recalls. “We were both new to the school. Most people were new because it’s a fourth- and fifth-grade school. I’m glad we have grown up together, are about to go to college and are still going strong.”
Clayborne plans to attend Holmes Community College this fall to major in liberal arts. “One thing I hope to take away from Youth Media Project are writing skills for college,” she says. “My favorite part of YMP is getting in the groups and splitting up tasks between everyone so we can write. The Youth Media Project strengthened my passion for writing and journalism. Being a second-year student mentor allows me to help my YMP members with their work. ”
The student journalist wants to flourish in the journalism industry and work for a big company like The New York Times or the Chicago Tribune. “I’ve always wanted to do something in the entertainment industry,” she says. “I would like to work behind the scenes. I eventually want to work my way up to be a producer or director; I want to coordinate my own TV show or movie. I enjoyed working at YMP last summer. It was fun to look into all the things journalists do.”
