Anonymous asked: I love all the diversity in Steven Universe its really refreshing compared to a lot of cartoons I saw when I was a little kids!

Thanks!

Honestly though, it’s less about “diversity” and more about character. Ages ago when we were developing SU we had the idea for a pizza shop run by a non-italian family and we wanted them to be funny.

My family is Ghanaian and a lot of my cousins are first-generation Americans and Brits and that culture-clash can be really hilarious. Talking amongst the writers about them became the idea of the Pizzas. It was easy to come up with their chemistry once we knew who they were.

Kiki, Jenny, Nanefua and Kofi are named after my cousins and uncle. Nanefua’s attitude is inspired by my maternal grandmother Theodosia Okoh, a stateswoman and philanthropist who designed the flag of Ghana. She’s a firecracker for real.