Vanessa Little has always been an educator artist at heart and spent the first nine years of her life in Landstuhl, Germany, before settling with her family and growing up in Colorado Springs. She is presently the founder, owner, and director of Lil’ Miss Story Hour, a grass roots, donation-run educational literacy program that hosts community story time events highlighting authors and illustrators from marginalized communities, specifically Black, Indigenous, People of Color, women, LGBTQIA, individuals with disabilities, and veterans. She believes that representation matters and wants to ensure that all children see themselves represented in media. In 2022, Lil’ Miss Story Hour’s program was identified as a high-impact, intergenerational program that elevates diverse stories by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) MOSAIC LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Additionally, in 2021 Vanessa won 3rd place in My Black City’s People’s Choice Award for educator of the year. In addition to Lil’ Miss Story Hour, Vanessa also runs a piano business, Miss Vanessa’s Piano Studio, writes poetry, writes and illustrates children’s books, sings, dances, paints, and draws.