My guest today, 16-year-old Nyla, cares deeply about the mental health struggles of young people in her community. During the pandemic, she realized that she was not the only person who was feeling lonely, isolated, and worried. She created Stillmakers with a grant from the Riley's Way Foundation to help tweens in grades 6 - 8, to use creative expression to share their feelings. She hopes to normalize discussion around mental health issues, especially in this younger age group.

Learn more and follow @blkgirlstandingsun

Creativity in all its forms can be healing, and can provide a welcome distraction for children going through treatment for pediatric cancer. My guest today, Olivia W, combined her passion for photography and her interest in becoming a pediatric oncologist to create Healing Lens, an organization that helps pediatric patients share their stories through photography.

Learn more at @healinglensproject

Happy New Year!
At the midway point of Season 4, I continue to be overwhelmed by the kindness, drive, purpose and optimism exhibited by my guests each week. During dark and troubling days in our world, these teen changemakers give me hope for a brighter future.

Instead of my usual interview, today, I'd like to share a short essay with you. The Riley's Way Foundation, which I've mentioned on the podcast many times, and for which I am a proud board member, hosted an essay contest this fall in honor of World Kindness Day. The topic was "what does Kind leadership mean to me" and five exceptional winners were selected. I'm going to read one of those winning essays for you today, written by Emily H. from California.

This essay is perfectly aligned with the themes of my new book! I'm delighted to announce that my third book, Simple Acts of Care: How to Help When Someone You Love is Hurting, will be published in December 2026 by The Collective Book Studio. This book is has been bouncing around my head for years and sharing these vulnerable stories and the life lessons I've learned over time has become a labor of love.

Stay tuned for more details in the coming year.

Happy Holidays to you all, and welcome to this very special Holiday episode! Today I have the pleasure of sharing this conversation with sisters Alexis and Taylor, who started their organization, Bored No More with a simple goal - providing bags of games, toys, and crafts to hospitalized children who are away from their homes over the holidays. It is a perfect reminder that there are so many ways that we can share the true spirit of this season with people who are struggling. I hope this conversation will inspire you to be generous and spread a little extra joy this holiday season.

Learn more at https://borednomorecharity.org/ and follow @charityborednomore

Sisters Caitlyn and Chloe K. from Las Vegas, learned about the very troubling issue of period poverty, and decided to do something about it. They created the Wellness Box Foundation which creates and distributes boxes containing feminine hygiene products and other toiletry items to girls and women living in shelter or experiencing homelessness.

Learn more at www.thewellnessboxfoundation.org @thewellnessboxfoundation

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