*By Samantha Errico*
Fashion designer Rachel Roy and daughter Ava Dash noticed that very few young adult novels featured Indian narratives. So they decided to write one themselves.
"We realized there have been so many retellings of Greek myths, so we decided that we wanted to be the first," Dash told Cheddar. "So we went through and found a story that really spoke to us."
"I asked her if she knew any Indian myths," Roy said of a telling interaction she had with her daughter, "and she said 'no, you haven't taught me any.'"
According to Roy, who is half-Indian, the book was also inspired by her father, who was born in Bangalore, India.
Eventually, the mother-daughter pair settled on "96 Words for Love," a story about young love and self-discovery. The coming-of-age myth follows a 17-year-old girl who "falls in love and forgets who she is," Dash said. The title, she added, refers to all 96 ways one can say the word "love" in Sanskrit.
Roy said that while she was developing the story, her then-teenage daughter was facing some of the same challenges as her fictional protagonist.
"What do I do next? Is it what my parents want me to do? Is it social media and what I see reflected in entertainment wants me to do?"
Above all, Roy said, she wants to empower her daughter to celebrate "what makes us beautiful both on the inside and on the outside."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/fashion-designer-rachel-roy-writes-young-adult-novel-with-daughter).
Discovery is joining the increasingly crowded streaming fray with its own reality-focused service Discovery Plus that will include shows from the Food Network, HGTV, TLC.
A grave warning from the head of the CDC as hospitalizations top 100K; states start mobilizing for vaccine rollout; where things stand with the stimulus talks and more.
Feed your mind with hundreds of audio courses led by well-known names like Alexis Ohanian and Scott Kelly.
Dayna Isom Johnson, the resident trend expert for Etsy, joined Cheddar to discuss the e-commerce platform's commitment to diversity and inclusion among its workforce and its sellers.
New clues have surfaced in the disappearance of a gleaming monolith in Utah that seemed to melt away as mysteriously as it appeared in the red-rock desert.
The Transportation Department issued a final rule Wednesday covering service animals. The rule says only dogs can qualify, and they have to be specially trained to help a person with disabilities.
Britain authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for use Wednesday, greenlighting the first shot backed up by rigorous scientific review. The first vaccinations are expected within days — a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic.
Britain gives the go-ahead for the Pfizer vaccine, marking the beginning of the end of the pandemic. Jill and Carlo discuss an incredible medical and scientific milestone, as well as the presidential pardons that could be coming, Salesforce's deal to buy Slack. Plus, free food.
Under-$50 Gadgets for Anyone on Your Shopping List
Bombas has donated one pair of socks to homeless shelters for every pair sold to customers, donating a total of 45 million products, with 3.4 million more planned for this holiday season.
