What the 17-year-old did not know was that she was one of 10 young women from around the world chosen as TIME magazine’s Girls of the Year 2025 for being a young leader who was inspiring the communities around her with her writing.
She is building a career as an Indie author, and already has three novellas published, and a collection of short stories showcasing other young writers and artists.
"I thought it was a scam when they called because I was like, that’s a major American magazine — how could these Americans know who I am?
"But when I realised it was legit, that was when I had the full realisation of how big this was."
Others on the list were Coco Yoshizawa, 15, an Olympic gold-medallist in Japan; Valerie Chiu, 15, a global science educator in China; Zoe Clauzure, 15, an anti-bullying crusader in France; Clara Proksch, 12, a scientist prioritising child safety in Germany; Ivanna Richards, 17, a racing driver shattering stereotypes in Mexico; Kornelia Wieczorek, 17, a biotech innovator in Poland; Defne Ozcan, 17, a trailblazing pilot in Turkey; Rebecca Young, 12, an engineer tackling homelessness in the United Kingdom; and Naomi DeBerry, 12, an organ donation advocate and children’s book author in the United States.
Rutendo believed she was picked because her books showcased strong female characters.
Her parents were born in Zimbabwe, and she said "representation" was important in her books because it allowed her readers to feel seen and to relate to the characters.
"Growing up, I didn’t often read books that included mental health themes or main characters of colour, and I think that influenced my early writing.
"As I’ve grown older, I’ve realised that I have the power to help fill that gap of lack of representation through my writing."
She also supports other young aspiring authors through her Creative Current project.
"I’m advocating for more young writers because I do think it is hard to be a young writer in this space — you can face a little bit of ageism."
The Tokoroa High School year 13 student was in Dunedin this week for the Hands-On residential camp at the University of Otago.
Surprisingly, she said she did not have any plans to study writing at tertiary level next year.
Instead, she has her eyes on dentistry.
"I’ve always liked sciences. I’m a very science-based student.
"I feel like dentistry is a very flexible career, and I can even own my own dentistry business.
"With writing right now, it’s very difficult to make a living out of it, and I don’t want to turn something that I like doing, into something I hate doing.
"So writing will become something I do in my spare time. There’s no reason why I couldn’t still publish books.
"It would be a busy life, but I’m usually pretty busy, so I’m kind of used to it."
She said making the TIME list had been a massive confidence booster.
"It just shows that no matter where you come from, there will always be success if you just put your mind to it."
