Ayesha Curry Is Angry She Has to Convince People to Help Children

Eat. Learn. Play. has raised and invested $100 million in Oakland’s children. One might expect that accomplishment to leave co-founder Ayesha Curry feeling proud.

Most days, she says, it leaves her angry.

Ayesha and Steph Curry have worked tirelessly to meet the needs of disadvantaged children and students throughout Oakland, but rather than feeling only satisfaction or pride in their work, Ayesha admitted to feeling frustrated by how many children still need help. 

“Honestly, most days I just feel angry. I feel like angry as a mom. I feel angry as a woman in this community. I feel angry as a human being who used to be a child,” she told W. Kamu Bell at the Social Impact Summit in Los Angeles, where she accepted the Philanthropist of the Year award alongside husband Steph Curry.

Ayesha’s anger is inseparable from the sense of belonging she and Steph found in Oakland when they first moved there 17 years ago.

“We just love Oakland,” Ayesha said during a panel discussion hosted by Bell. “We had our first child there. I remember when we used to live in Jack London Square and walking around. It was the first time that I saw what community really looks like.”

“You step foot in Oakland, and you become a part of the city.”

It was that love that led them to launch their charitable foundation, Eat. Learn. Play., which is dedicated to helping disadvantaged children in the city. 

The $100 million they raised helped build 24 new playgrounds, provided 35 million meals to people experiencing food insecurity, and funded high-impact tutoring for over 7,500 students, which is even more impressive when you consider that the organization has only existed since 2019. 

One would think that all that success would have the Currys taking a victory lap, but Ayesha says she feels frustrated by how much work still needs to be done and how challenging it can be to convince people to help them do it.

To Ayesha, the need to help others feels self-evident, but she understands that not everyone feels the same way.

“It's so interesting that you kind of have to rally people when we're talking about children. And so for me, I think that is my personal struggle, balancing the emotion that comes with that and putting my head on straight and saying, no, we're going to lace up those boots, and we're going to get to work.”

“That’s the headline from The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Ayesha Curry angry.’ That’s gonna get aggregated,” Bell joked.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make it that easy,” Ayesha said with a smile. 

She added, “Oftentimes it’s learning how to deal with the anger that comes with having to convince people of why they should join in and help.”

But the hard work they’ve put into the foundation has created its own momentum.

Despite her frustration, Ayesha acknowledged how much they have accomplished and the cumulative effect their work has had across the Bay Area. 

“People continue to show up, and we don't even have to ask at this point. It is just such a beautiful thing. And it gives me hope that the sense of community is still alive and well in the world.”

According to Bell, more than 4,000 volunteers have completed 30,000 hours of volunteer work through Eat. Learn. Play.

“It's just so contagious the energy that you get when you show up, and to Ayesha's point, they give us their all,” Steph added.

Ayesha mentioned that the tension between all they’ve accomplished and all they still want to do is what helps drive her forward. For her, accomplishment and frustration remain inseparable.

“It’s encouraging and slightly depressing at the same time, just knowing how much work needs to be done.”

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