Zaila Avant-garde
Quick Facts
Biography
Zaila Avant-garde (born February 9, 2007) is an American speller, basketball player, and juggler. She won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee. She is the first African-American contestant to win the bee and is the second Black winner, after Jamaica's Jody-Anne Maxwell.
Life
Avant-garde was born on February 9, 2007, in Harvey, Louisiana, the daughter of Alma Heard and Jawara Spacetime. Her father chose her last name to honor John Coltrane. She has cited Malala Yousafzai, Serena Williams, and Coco Gauff as inspirations. Her basketball heroes include Stephen Curry, James Harden, Diana Taurasi, Kevin Durant and Maya Moore.
Spelling bee
Avant-garde reached the national level in the 2019 Bee. She used a study resource called SpellPundit to learn about 12,000 words per day. Her coach was former Scripps finalist, Cole Shafer-Ray, who also coached the runner-up, Chaitra Thummala. In the 2021 competition, she won the title by correctly spelling "Murraya". The first place comes with $50,000 in cash and prizes. Due to pandemic concerns, only the 11 finalists competed in person, in a session that took fewer than 2 hours. She is the first African-American contestant to win the competition. Before her, MacNolia Cox became the first African-American contestant to reach the final stage in the 1936 Bee.
Basketball
Basketball, I’m not just playing it... I’m really trying to go somewhere with it. Basketball is what I do. Spelling is really a side thing I do. It’s like a little hors d’oeuvre. But basketball’s like the main dish.
— Zaila Avant-garde
She is one of the top class of 2026 basketball prospects in the US. Avant-garde is the holder of three basketball Guinness World Records and co-holder of another. Her parents gave her a copy of the Guinness book for her eighth birthday, which triggered her ambition.
On November 14, 2019, she broke her first record, for most bounce juggles in one minute (three basketballs) at 231. That day she also set the record for most bounces of four basketballs in 30 seconds (307). On November 2, 2020, she set the record for most bounce juggles in one minute, using four basketballs (255). She is the co-holder of the record for most basketballs dribbled at one time (six) — set on Jan. 26, 2021 (equalling Joseph Odhiambo's August 2000 record).
Juggling
Avant-garde was the silver medalist at the International Jugglers' Association 2020 championship in the Juniors Division (18U). She is an elite unicyclist and can juggle and cycle simultaneously.