The Story Of You

Divaa Utkarsh | Project Surya | Tedx speaker

This version weaves in Divaa's complete journey - from watching her brother's diagnosis at 13 to operating Project Surya across five countries at 17 - while emphasizing the healthcare inequity crisis, her three-pronged approach (awareness, advocacy, funding), and her powerful philosophy that empathy backed by action transforms lives. The narrative highlights how personal heartbreak can become collective healing and how proximity to pain can become expertise in solving systemic injustice!

2x Beat Boxing Champion | Tedx Speaker | Kaila Mullady

Our guest today is someone who has redefined what the human voice can do. She discovered beatboxing at just 12 years old, experimenting with sounds and rhythms at an age when most of us are still figuring out what we enjoy. 2x World Beatbox Champion, pushing the boundaries of her art by fusing beatboxing, singing, rapping, and theatre in ways the world hadn’t seen before. Her groundbreaking artistry reached one of America’s biggest theatrical stages — Broadway — as part of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award–winning improv comedy show, Freestyle Love Supreme, proving that beatboxing belongs at the very highest levels of performance. Beyond the spotlight, she has travelled across more than 30 countries, using her voice to teach, heal, and empower — from school assemblies to working with at-risk youth, and even partnering with New York University to design a first-of-its-kind class for blind students using beatboxing as a tool for speech therapy.

Breaking the Silence with Gia & Mihikaa

In this episode, I speak with Gia Narang and Mihikaa Jhaveri, the founders of Healing Hearts, a youth-led foundation committed to advancing mental health awareness and breaking the stigma surrounding it. Healing Hearts focuses on creating meaningful conversations around mental health through interactive sessions, school-based initiatives, informative digital content, and monthly themes that explore different mental health concerns in depth. Their approach prioritises accessibility, empathy, and practical understanding, especially for young people. Beyond awareness, Healing Hearts actively works towards impact by collaborating with NGOs, volunteering on the ground, and organising donation drives to support mental health–related causes. Each initiative is rooted in the belief that awareness must translate into action. To learn more about their work, ongoing campaigns, and resources, visit their website and follow them on Instagram @healinghearts.foundation, where they regularly share updates, insights, and ways to get involved

Sirish Subash: Teen Builds AI to Keep Your Food Safe

Sirish may only be 14, but he’s already inventing technology with the potential to change how we eat. He built PestiSCAND, a handheld device that detects pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables- giving families an easy, practical way to know what’s really safe to eat. It’s practical, brilliant, and deeply rooted in care for people’s health. Recognised as America’s Top Young Scientist, Sirish is proof that curiosity and compassion can create world-class innovation. But what you don’t see at first glance is just how much persistence went into building it. Designing PestiSCAND wasn’t a straight line; he had to test every possible shape and size, refining again and again until he found the form that scanned produce effectively and was easy for anyone to use. Each prototype taught him something new: what didn’t work, what almost worked, and what could work better. Instead of being discouraged, he treated every iteration as a stepping stone toward the final device. That combination of scientific rigour and unshakable patience is what sets him apart. Sirish’s story is as much about perseverance as it is about invention- the kind of relentless testing, tweaking, and learning that turns a bright idea into a breakthrough tool the world can hold in its hands.

Nandini Rastogi: A Teen Using CRISPR for Food Security

Nandini is 19, and she’s using cutting-edge gene editing to take on one of humanity’s greatest challenges: food security. Her work with CRISPR focuses on rice, making it more resilient to climate change, so farmers can continue to feed a growing world despite rising temperatures and unpredictable weather. She’s already been presenting her work on global stages, but what makes her stand out is her belief that science isn’t just about fancy breakthroughs. For her, it’s about something far more fundamental: feeding the future. Her journey, though, started in the most unexpected way. The very first time she set out to experiment, she walked into a mall, bought a bag of rice, and only later realised that polished rice can’t actually be grown. That small misstep was the first of many setbacks, but instead of giving up, Nandini embraced trial and error as part of her path. With limited resources and little guidance at first, she leaned on curiosity, resilience, and the courage to ask. She wrote countless cold emails- some unanswered, some opening the right doors- and slowly built her network of mentors, knowledge, and tools. Every failure became fuel, and every small success a stepping stone. What began with a simple bag of rice from a mall has now turned into pioneering work that holds the potential to help millions. Nandini’s story is proof that determination and a hunger to learn can turn even the humblest beginnings into world-changing science.