Meet the TikTok creator helping Black readers find their main characters, one recommendation at a time

BookTok, a section of TikTok populated by book lovers, reviewers and writers, has been lauded for democratizing the publishing world. Amateurs can use the app to talk about the books they loved, the reads they hated, and the authors they can't get enough of. And with enough traction, sometimes the creators have become responsible for a book's resurgence on the bestseller lists. 

But by mirroring the publishing industry, BookTok also took on one of its biggest problems: the lack of diversity. For Kendra Keeter-Gray, reading the same White books just wasn't good enough. So she created an account (@kendra.reads) dedicated to sharing the book, and main characters of color, she couldn't get enough of. "I just wanted more people to talk about books with, but I kept feeling like there was something missing," Keeter-Gray said. "A lot of the BookTokers were White and they were just doing a lot of the same books. I was like, 'Wait, well, I like those books too, but I think I can add something a little more."