Simple Acts, Big Impact

My guest today, 13 year old Divisha from Washington State, is a dog lover and social entrepreneur. As a 9 year old, she created Bow Bow Ties, an Etsy shop which sells hand-sewn bow ties and bandanas and donates the proceeds to help animal shelters in her community.

https://www.instagram.com/bow_bow_ties/

Emily B., has a passion for neuroscience and psychology, and is committed to helping other young people with similar interests - especially those from marginalized groups without representation in neuroscience or healthcare. She created the Teen Neuroscience Alliance to help make neuroscience and psychology education accessible to everyone with an interest in the workings of the human brain.

Learn more at https://www.teenneuroalliance.com/ and follow @teenneuroalliance

If you have an older adult in your life, you may know that criminals frequently try various tricks and phishing scams to get them to hand over personal information or to send money. This is a huge problem affecting millions of people around the globe, with billions of dollars being stolen. My guest today, college student Jake, created CyberAware, to train teen volunteers across the country to go out to senior centers, libraries and nursing facilities, to teach older adults  how to protect themselves from falling victim to these crimes.

Learn more at https://www.cyberawareofficial.org/ and follow @cyberawareofficial

As we've discussed on the podcast many times, representation matters, and thats especially true in the medical field. Young black and brown girls need to see people who look like them becoming physicians and taking on other leadership roles in healthcare. My guest today, Sarah, is a recent college graduate who will be attending medical school. Working in partnership with Sneakers to Scrubs, she created She's Got Goals for young girls on the South Side of Chicago. It is a sports-based initiative that empowers girls to explore careers in healthcare while understanding their own health and wellness through guest speakers and educational workshops focused on adopting healthy behaviors.

Learn more @sneakers2scrubs

Since 2025 began, issues surrounding immigration, naturalization and undocumented citizens has been very much in the news cycle. What can get lost in all of the coverage of ICE raids and deportations are the stories of real people who are pursuing legal avenues to become US citizens. My guests today, Samuel and Julie, are the leaders of CLIP, which stands for Creating Legal Immigration Pathways, a student-run organization that helps non citizens in their California community to find accessible pathways to obtain United States citizenship. This work is timely, and important, and once again, young people are rolling up their sleeves to find real solutions to complicated problems.

Learn more and follow @clipcitizenship and www.clipcitizenship.org

Expressing ourselves through art is healing, and it celebrates our cultural heritage, it educates and it connects us to one another, fostering understanding among people from different backgrounds. My guest today, Shriya from Phoenix, understood this, and created Artsphere, which provides programs to boys and girls clubs, schools and camps in her community, to spread cultural awareness through artistic expression. Artsphere has directly impacted over 400 children across three states, fostering creativity and cultural appreciation.

Follow and learn more @artsphere2024

With election day coming up next week, we need every young person to get engaged in our civic discourse, to care about our collective future and to share their talents and skills to make a difference. My guest today, Kayla P. from Illinois, started the Civic Success Project, an organization dedicated to transforming how young people connect with and participate in civic life - centering youth priorities and helping young people to realize their influence and make meaningful change in their communities. This is an incredibly powerful conversation for this particular moment in our democracy.

Follow and learn more @thecivicsuccessproject and www.civic-success.org

Title IX is federal legislation that prohibits discrimination based on general in any programs receiving federal funding. My guest today is a young woman who cares deeply about ensuring that everyone in her community understands their legal rights under title IX. Rachel, from Orange County, started the Title IX Advocacy Initiative and speaks passionately about the ways that young people who care about justice and fairness can make a difference in their communities.

To learn more, follow at @TitleIXAdvocacyInitiative

There's a common phrase used in mentorship and educational equity circles: You need to SEE it to BE it. My guest today understands the representation matters, and that young people need to see and hear from role models whose lived experiences mirror their own. Munveer S. from Menlo Park, California, started Off the Stage to connect young people to speakers, mentors and role models from diverse backgrounds.

Learn more on the Off the Stage website: www.offthestage.org

Sophie Szew is an incredible mental health advocate, writer and speaker. As an eating disorder survivor and proud Jewish Latina, Sophie combines their own experiences with injustice brought about by mental healthcare inequity with her passion for writing, advocacy, and leadership to uplift the voices of those with lived experiences and fight for the systemic destigmatization of marginalized bodies.

Her writing, under the banner Truth from Today's Youth, can be found at www.behavioralhealthnews.org. Connect with Sophie on LinkedIn.