Today we’d like to introduce you to Natasha Agarwal.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, reading became an outlet and lifeline for 13-year-old Natasha Agarwal. Yet while her own shelves brimmed with unread adventures, she was struck by news stories showing that thousands of children across the country had no books at all. The disconnect between her own literary cocoon and the severe reading gap affecting so many nearby youth was shocking. Natasha started thinking about how books on her shelves could gain a second life in the hands of local youth.
In 2021, Natasha organized her first book drive at her school as an eighth grade student. Mobilizing classmates, teachers, and families, she collected over 3,000 gently used books. Natasha personally delivered them to the Guadalupe Center of Immokalee, Florida, where CEO Dawn Montecalvo embraced every book with open arms and encouraged her to host year-round drives. Natasha founded BelieveNBooks nonprofit organization on Earth Day of 2021.
By giving gently used books a second life and home, Natasha is a youth literacy pioneer, working to expand children’s horizons through learning, imagination, and opportunity. Not only did narrow the literacy gap, but she mobilized fellow young people to lead sustainable social change. Today, she has distributed 250,000 books to 45,000 youth across The United States and Africa!
What started as a single book drive has evolved into a structured nonprofit operation under Natasha’s direction. Now a network of 25 youth-led distribution locations, Natasha and fellow youth continue to run independent book drives, sort and package materials, deliver books to schools and community partners, and manage logistics. When initial volunteer participation at her high school was low, Natasha adapted by forming partnerships with Florida Gulf Coast University service-learning students—an integral decision that created a dependable volunteer base. These college students became the lifeblood of BelieveNBooks, supporting every stage of the book drive process and spurring new partnerships through their diverse experiences and skillsets.
Natasha also cultivated relationships with philanthropists, nonprofit leaders, and board members who encouraged her growth and provided key insights. Their guidance helped her refine her strategy, expand her reach, and develop leadership and communication abilities at an exceptionally young age.
Natasha’s work extends far beyond book distribution. About a year into hosting book drives, she learned of an additional barrier in her community. Even though children now had reading materials, many of them lived in non-English speaking homes where at-home read aloud time was low. Therefore, they could not make full use of the books provided. Inspired, she designed PageTurner, a read-aloud initiative entailing distribution of both physical books and corresponding YouTube read-aloud videos. These videos are led by Natasha and her peers, fostering English language development during the critical language period. PageTurner gives children the opportunity to build home libraries and practice literacy skills independently, even without adult assistance. Through this program, she has shared 25,000 books and significantly improved Kindergarten readiness. 80% of parents and educators hope to see new content in 2026, and there is a waitlist of organizations ready to become recipients.
In 2024, Natasha launched her most ambitious initiative yet—her original book, Tales of African Women Trailblazers. When researching and talking with community leaders, Natasha learned that children in Africa are still constrained by the opportunity gap today due to a lack of resources and exposure. This disparity disproportionately affects girls, who are often pulled out of school due to poverty, a need to enter the workforce, child marriage, and even gender stigmas. Their exposure to opportunities is often so limited that they cannot envision lives different from the ones they live. She also discovered success stories: the fearless, resilient women who overcame adversity and challenged stereotypes to achieve their goals. She decided to compile and share the stories of 21 African-born female pioneers in Tales of African Women Trailblazers.
With the help of featured trailblazer Nana Ama Brown Klutse (Director of Ghana’s EPA) and several African NGOs, Natasha was able to distribute 10,000 copies of her book to students across the continent, free of cost. This includes printing and donating books on the ground in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, and Rwanda. The book is now published and available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, with 100% of proceeds going towards the African distribution effort. In addition, a free pdf of the entire book is available on the BelieveNBooks website, and Natasha’s distribution efforts are ongoing. By learning about women who have been in their shoes, she hopes that young African girls of every background, village, and wish will realize their full potential and the breadth of opportunities awaiting them.
Natasha’s work is rooted in a sustainability model. It is low-cost, resourceful, and demonstrates strong stewardship. Since most books are gently used, book drives have no associated expenses. Furthermore, with the 250,000 books donated through drives, Natasha has offset over 600,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions. With Pageturner, Natasha is fortunate to have several donors and family foundations that support book purchases for Pageturner. For African distribution, Natasha strategically coordinates local printing, eliminating international shipping costs and supporting local economies or entreprenuers. These purchases are made using volunteer funds and proceeds from online book sales in America.
Through thousands of hours of volunteer leadership, strategic planning, fundraising through book sales, and collaborative partnerships, Natasha has transformed a personal passion into a thriving, international movement based in literacy, empowerment, sustainability, and youth leadership. As a prelaw college student at The University of Pennsylvania, she is excited to expand her reach into additional communities in need.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A key struggle we faced early on was a lack of high school student volunteers who could our mission, especially in 2021 during initial drives. However, just a few weeks later, I was fortunate to get in contact with local students at Florida Gulf Coast University interested in civic engagement. We signed a partnership to become a service partner. Years later, these volunteers continue to be the backbone of the organization, involved in every step of the book drive process and an essential part of our growth. Collaborating with them to sort and package thousands of books, complete deliveries, and organize our storage locker has taught me how to utilize people’s unique strengths to best accomplish our goals. Moreover, hearing their various experiences and ideas has allowed me to become more in tune with needs and expand my reach.
Moreover, we are fortunate to now have student leaders overseeing chapters of BelieveNBooks across Georgia, New York, New Jersey, California, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania. Connecting with enterprising high school students ready to make a dent in the educational equity sectors took me years but has tremendously streamlined our collection process, allowing for simultaneous projects in the same region.
Finally, a constant struggle we face is funding. While our book drive model is cost free, the Pageturner and Africa initiatives require investments for specialized content. By seeking out grant programs and securing private donors, we have offset some of these costs but do still face fiscal burdens as an emerging organization.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our unique soundbite is that BelieveNBooks is student-led and sustainable. Each book drive brings in hundreds of gently used books, which we give a second life in the hands of youth in need. In mitigating book deserts in low-income neighborhoods, we have zero costs or carbon emission footprint.
The sky is the limit for how and where to start a book drive, and we are always looking for dedicated community members to join us in the fight towards ensuring youth literacy. Even bringing one book or starting one drive will make a difference in a child’s life. More information about us can be found at www.believenbooks.org for those interested!
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
In the upcoming dedicate, I envision continued growth of book drives across states and countries, with more community leaders coming under our umbrella. Having just hit 250,000 books distributed is a tremendous milestone, but also just the beginning given how simple and easy to achieve our mission is. This also extends into developing reading programs and distribution models that better equip the needs of Philadelphia public schools: target outreach in addition to mass scaling.
Moreover, I see myself publishing several books that parallel Tales of African Women Trailblazers to bring inspiration and exposure to youth across different continents. I hope these titles reach as many homes, schools, and libraries as possible to maximize accessibility. In this way, I see our global funding increasing in tandem with funding for our distributions across America.
Finally, I hope to expand our recipient pool. While our focal point continues to be subsidized preschool and enrichment programs, bringing books to juvenile detention centers and mental hospitals is a goal of mine.
Pricing:
- Monetary donation: https://www.believenbooks.org/donate
- Buy discounted book bundles: https://www.believenbooks.org/store
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.believenbooks.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believenbooks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BelieveNBooks/photos/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha2007/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pageturner9962/videos
- Other: https://www.believenbooks.org/media
