Donna Beasley

CTL-E-5227 · Person · businessperson · 2016–present (KaZoom years)

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

Donna Beasley is a Chicago publisher and entrepreneur, founder and publisher of KaZoom Kids Books. A Chicago native with a 25-year career in advertising and earlier ventures that included a record label and a travel magazine, she founded KaZoom in 2016 after shopping four downtown Chicago bookstores for her five-year-old niece and finding, in her account, not one book with a child of color. Her interviews cite the statistic that only about 5 percent of the 3,500 children's books published in 2014 featured children of color. Beasley is a sponsor of the Soulful Chicago Book Fair and co-author, with Asadah Kirkland, of Bitcoin for Black People; she also authored Spark Magic, on writing multicultural children's picture books.

Notes

STAGED 2026-10-15 (packet branch-two). The 5% figure is carried as the statistic Beasley cites in interviews, not as a CTL-verified count.

Relationships

Asadah Kirkland — collaborated with
Beasley and Kirkland: co-authors of Bitcoin for Black People; Beasley sponsors the Soulful Chicago Book Fair (South Side Drive Magazine).

Referenced by

Bitcoin for Black People — authored by → this record
KaZoom Kids Books — founded by → this record

Sources

VoyageChicago — Meet Donna Beasley of KaZoom Kids Books in Hyde Park (founder account, 2016 origin)
Los Angeles Sentinel — interview with Donna Beasley on KaZoom (5% of 3,500 statistic as she cites it)
South Side Drive Magazine — Beasley as fair sponsor and Bitcoin for Black People co-author; Spark Magic authorship (primary source)

Record CTL-E-5227 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 3 sources (1 primary) · 3 mapped relationships · CTL research: PPL-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

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Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Donna Beasley (CTL-E-5227),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-5227/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Donna Beasley (CTL-E-5227).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-5227/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Donna Beasley (CTL-E-5227) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-5227/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Donna Beasley (CTL-E-5227).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-5227/

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