{"id":162277,"date":"2026-02-20T07:02:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/162277\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T07:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:02:06","slug":"when-representation-meets-creativity-the-famuan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/162277\/","title":{"rendered":"When\u00a0representation\u00a0meets creativity\u00a0 \u2013 The FAMUAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"An illustration of Hope and her mother highlighting her childhood experiences.
(Ashley Bigbee\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n

\"\"FAMU-FSU College of Engineering student Madison Devoux showcasing her book
\u201cHope is an Engineer\u201d. (Ashley Bigbee\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n

\"\"The back cover of Hope is An Engineer tells the readers the meaning of the book.
(Ashley Bigbee\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n

In a world where representation for young\u00a0Black girls is constantly evolving, a newly released book called\u00a0\u201cHope\u00a0Is\u00a0An\u00a0Engineer\u201d\u00a0is continuing to change the narrative\u00a0on the Highest of Seven Hills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For\u00a0Madison\u00a0Devoux,\u00a0\u00a0a fourth-year\u00a0mechanical\u00a0engineering student at Florida A&M University,\u00a0her story\u00a0started well before\u00a0attending the\u00a0College of Engineering. Raised in Cairo, Georgia, a small town 50 minutes away from Tallahassee,\u00a0Decoux says her\u00a0upbringings\u00a0and\u00a0curiosity\u00a0deeply shaped her values.\u00a0Devoux\u00a0grew up loving problem-solving and building things, even though she\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0see\u00a0a lot of engineers who looked like her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0when\u201cHope\u00a0Is\u00a0An\u00a0Engineer\u201d\u00a0was brought to life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI created\u00a0\u2018Hope Is\u00a0An\u00a0Engineer\u2019\u00a0because I wanted to fill a gap I experienced growing up,\u201d\u00a0Devoux\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cI rarely saw books where Black girls were shown as engineers or innovators. I saw movies like\u00a0\u2018Hidden\u00a0Figures\u2019\u00a0[and]\u00a0TV shows, but I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0see the literature. I wanted kids, especially Black girls, to see themselves early and believe that STEM is a space where they belong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you step into Hope\u2019s world, the book is set in\u00a0Devoux\u2019s\u00a0hometown\u00a0with parts of the story taking place in Tallahassee, Florida.\u00a0Throughout the book, readers are able to get a feel of her upbringing throughout her childhood home, school\u00a0and even intimate moments like her mom doing her hair.\u00a0Her goal for the book is intentionally grounded in familiarity and warmth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted readers to feel like they were growing up with Hope and walking through each phase of her life alongside her,\u201d\u00a0Devoux\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before finding her publisher\u00a0BFF Publishing\u00a0and writer Toni Mutcherson, she tried to\u00a0write\u00a0the book on her own.\u00a0However,\u00a0it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0something that came to her overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI quickly realized I was writing with an engineering brain instead of a storytelling brain. It was very technical, and that just\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0work when\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0writing for kids,\u201d\u00a0Devoux\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Hope reflects a young and eager\u00a0Devoux\u00a0pursuing a career in engineering, other Black women in her field of study inspired her to get to where\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0at in her collegiate career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A lot of those women also happened to be FAMU\u00a0alumna\u00a0themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so many Black women in engineering who pour into me and truly support me,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Devoux\u00a0said. \u201cI also received a lot of love from the\u00a0FAMUly, including FAMU\u00a0alumna\u00a0Ania Wilson, author of the coding book\u00a0\u2018C Plus Me.\u2019\u00a0\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through storytelling told in realistic spaces and representation,\u00a0Devoux\u00a0hopes that the book serves both as mirror and window for girls with the help of the \u201cBlack Girl Magic\u201d mindset with legacy in action. By doing that,\u00a0this\u00a0book\u00a0makes\u00a0space for the next generation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is rooted in the history of Black women who led and survived in spaces they were never meant to be, especially in the South,\u201d she\u00a0said. \u201cBlack\u00a0girl magic is resilience and using what you have to change the\u00a0game,\u00a0he\u00a0book is my way of honoring the women who came before me while making space for the girls coming next.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An illustration of Hope and her mother highlighting her childhood experiences.(Ashley Bigbee\/FAMUAN) FAMU-FSU College of Engineering student Madison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-162277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-tallahassee","9":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","10":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}