The Optimist Daily's Weekly Roundup

Epizode

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  (Guest Interview) A place to breathe: inside #CreateConnectCare, the youth mental health program giving young people a voice | World Mental Health Day 2026 09.10.2026 39min

  If you have a teenager in your life and you've felt them pull away from conversations you used to have easily, this episode is for you. Kathy Saulitis has spent three years going through what young people write and create when nobody is grading it: the poems, drawings, essays, and songs submitted to #CreateConnectCare, a youth mental health initiative that collected over 3,000 submissions this year from young people in all 50 states and 15 countries. She's seen the repeating themes. She has also thought a lot about what parents can actually do, and she's direct about it. Lilly Kacziba is 17, from Queens, New York, one of fewer than 20 teenagers chosen this year for the program's National Mental Health Youth Council. She explains, from her own experience, why teenagers go quiet and shut down... and it's not because they don't want to talk. We are honored to release this Guest Interview on the eve of World Mental Health Day. Kathy Saulitis Senior Advisor to the CEO, Chief of Staff & Marketing Lead, Creative Visions Director, #CreateConnectCare Creative Visions is a Malibu-based nonprofit and United Nations NGO, founded over 25 years ago by Kathy Eldon and Amy Eldon in honor of Dan Eldon, a Reuters photojournalist killed in Somalia in 1993. The organization supports creative activists working across documentary, music, poetry, advocacy, and youth change-making. Website: createconnectcare.org Instagram: @CreateConnectCare Lilly Kacziba Student, Archbishop Molloy High School, Queens, New York (class of 2027) National Mental Health Youth Council, #CreateConnectCare (2026 cohort) One of fewer than 20 teenagers selected nationally; the only representative from New York. Since December 2025, Lilly has run seven peer mental health workshops at her school (three in-person, four online), open to any student at any skill level.   GET INVOLVED WITH #CREATECONNECTCARE Website: createconnectcare.org Browse the full gallery and this year's award-winning work Read the poem "No Es Ilegal" and watch the dance performance for the Behind the Mask project Download the Teen Mental Wellness Day activity guide (March 2nd) — the program's most-downloaded resource, written by youth council members Find classroom resources and suggested projects for educators For young people (ages 11–18): Try the Behind the Mask project anytime: one side shows what you let others see, the other shows what you keep hidden. Save it for the submission window. Submission portal opens: January 5, 2027 Submission portal closes: March 31, 2027 Awards announced in May, before end of school year Coming May 2027: Stressolescence — a PBS documentary about stress and adolescence, featuring #CreateConnectCare and former youth council member Ryan.   MUSIC CREDITS This episode features two original songs submitted to the 2026 #CreateConnectCare challenge: "Grow" — written and performed by Rayn S. "Worn" — written and performed by Merissa M. Both are award-winning submissions. The full gallery is at createconnectcare.org. CRISIS RESOURCES In the United States: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 (free, 24/7, English and Spanish) Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 (free, 24/7) International: findahelpline.com — directory of crisis lines in countries around the world befrienders.org — emotional support centers in more than 50 countries If someone is in immediate danger, call local emergency services. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1423087 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http:// Theme and all other original music by Marvin Lanes
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  A wildlife overpass, a solar train, and Japan's massive centenarian population 02.10.2026 30min

  This week Arielle and Karissa cover the Colorado wildlife overpass that came in $15 million under budget and brought pronghorn back to habitat they hadn't reached in decades, what Japan's 107,000-plus centenarians reveal about diet and aging, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library expanding in London less than a month after her death, and more! Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1423038 Nominate a Local Changemaker (30 and under): https://us20.list-manage.com/survey?u=d2e7810fd2bcf24fb1144a7e2&id=6e0ab37520&e=28025b5010 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  The tilcayo, cancer-sniffing dogs, and 8 more things going right 25.09.2026 25min

  There's a startup training dogs to detect cancer across seven types… and there's over 90 percent accuracy across six hospitals. This week Arielle and Karissa also cover a wildcat species science just got around to naming (local communities already had a name for it), bison reshaping a Mexican desert faster than anyone expected, and what Cambridge researchers found when they actually quantified how reading protects your brain. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1423005 Nominate a Local Changemaker (30 and under): https://us20.list-manage.com/survey?u=d2e7810fd2bcf24fb1144a7e2&id=6e0ab37520&e=28025b5010 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes  
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  A 450-year map mistake gets corrected by 164 countries, plus nine more solutions 18.09.2026 23min

  Most world maps show Greenland and Africa as roughly the same size… which is kind of unbelievable considering Africa is 14 times larger! This error has been built into classrooms, boardrooms, and institutions since 1569. Last week, 164 countries finally voted to fix it. Arielle and Karissa also cover a solar ambulance built by university students that completed its first real-world test in rural Kenya, a student baking operation in Frisco, Texas that has raised over $8,000 for food-insecure kids, and why the best time to deal with weeds is probably right now. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422965 Nominate a Local Changemaker (30 and under): https://us20.list-manage.com/survey?u=d2e7810fd2bcf24fb1144a7e2&id=6e0ab37520&e=28025b5010 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  NYC bans AI for 500,000 students, and seven other solutions 11.09.2026 22min

  An approach to treating degenerative blindness has been in development for more than ten years across research institutions in Spain. The result is not a surgery, a gene therapy, or an implant. It is eye drops. Light-activated compounds that restored vision in blind animal models by stepping in where lost photoreceptors used to be, without disturbing the underlying disease. Arielle and Karissa cover eight solutions this week, including the country's broadest AI ban for over half a million students, a urine test that spots bladder cancer with 92% accuracy, and what steel wind turbine foundations are inadvertently doing for marine life around Long Island. Nominate a Local Changemaker (30 and under): https://us20.list-manage.com/survey?u=d2e7810fd2bcf24fb1144a7e2&id=6e0ab37520&e=28025b5010 Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422924 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  AI music banned from Australia's charts, Roman telescope launches, a biodegradable balloon and much more! 04.09.2026 26min

  Arielle and Karissa are reunited after a few weeks apart, covering a wide range of solutions this episode: a new telescope that survived two White House cancellation attempts, the decade-long trial that settles the statin-and-dementia debate once and for all, and a biodegradable balloon that took three years and hundreds of failed experiments to get right. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422883 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  Niger restored 5 million hectares without planting a single tree plus nine other things going right 28.08.2026 21min

  Karissa hosts solo this week while Arielle recovers, covering ten solutions including the world's first wild bird flu vaccination program for Phillip Island's little penguins, France making unsolicited telemarketing calls flat-out illegal, and what Baltimore is doing with $400 million in opioid settlement money. transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422844 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  (Guest Interview) Catch up with Kristy: clean energy, leaving California, and embracing the slow life 21.08.2026 26min

  Many of the long-time listeners of The Optimist Daily's podcast will recognize Kristy Jansen's voice. She's the former co-host and Executive Director of this show, and she's back, joining Arielle and Karissa from Mérida, México, to catch them up on what happened in between: the clean energy industry from the inside, and what it's like to start over somewhere new when you didn't really pick the timing. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422807 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http:// Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes bird in rainforest.wav by reinsamba -- https://freesound.org/s/19257/ -- License: Attribution 4.0  
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  Taking our own advice on slowing down this summer 14.08.2026 3min

  Arielle checks in solo to explain why the Kristy guest episode is getting a little more time. Both she and Karissa have been doing what they always say matters most: showing up, fully present, for the people they love. Babies, weddings, miles between people who love each other. Sometimes slowing down really is the solution. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422764 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  Liquid air batteries, dolphins saved by plastic bottles, and an empty weekend a month 31.07.2026 28min

  Dolphins fatally swim into fishing nets because the nylon is acoustically too similar to water for their echolocation to pick up. A researcher at Newcastle University wondered if attaching something that does produce an echo might change that. The dolphin-saving solution may surprise you. Ten solutions this week with Arielle and Karissa. Also in the episode: energy storage technologies that sound like science fiction but are getting serious investment, India's first domestically built hydrogen train, and the garden sign that looks like a win but means your plant is struggling to survive. Stay tuned til the end for a wonderful Emissary Shout-Out that will brighten your day! Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422684 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  The science of soccer-stress, salsa dancing for depression, and why summer slips away 24.07.2026 28min

  Watching a tense soccer match nearly doubles cardiac event risk, and cortisol could start rising fourteen hours before kickoff. With Spain just taking the World Cup, a fair portion of the world's population has basically been running a biological experiment on itself. Arielle and Karissa also get into the neurological reason summer keeps slipping away, an Oxford trial where eight weeks of salsa classes outperformed existing tools for depression and anxiety, and a brush swab for oral cancer that returns results in under an hour — no scalpel needed. Stay tuned til the end for a wonderful Emissary Shout-Out that will brighten your day! Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422640  If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  Wildfire satellites, Seine city cooling, and parenting securely attached kids 17.07.2026 28min

  Greece just launched the world's first satellite constellation built specifically for wildfire detection. It can spot a fire measuring only a few feet across, a huge improvement on conventional satellites, which start flagging fires when they're already the size of a cruise ship. Ten solutions this week with Arielle and Karissa, including the first gallery in history dedicated entirely to women artists and five French food principles that have nothing to do with tracking macros. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422600 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes  
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  500 years of the soccer cleat, a world-first burn treatment, and green hydrogen in California 10.07.2026 25min

  Every player at this year's World Cup is wearing the end result of 500 years of iteration on a single piece of equipment. It started with factory workers hammering hardware store nails into their boots for traction on wet British turf. Ten solutions this week with Arielle and Karissa: the world's first exome therapy for burn patients, a California canal that generates electricity while cutting water evaporation by 70 percent, a copper compound that goes after Alzheimer's in a completely novel way, and what will truly help you when you feel… "off." Special shout-out to Karissa's friend Amy! (Listen to this episode to find out why.) If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to [email protected]. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422551 Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes  
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  Coffee waste as fuel, Nepal same-sex marriage rights, and understanding heat domes 02.07.2026 23min

  Stanford researchers took cartilage from patients already getting knee replacements (about as degraded as joint tissue gets) and discovered how it could regenerate itself. The cells weren't replaced or reprogrammed; they just shifted back toward a younger pattern of behavior, which is the part that feels almost too good to be true. Alongside that, Arielle and Karissa cover the two heat domes expected to merge over the US around July 4th and what extreme heat actually does to the body, Nepal becoming one of the most LGBTQ-inclusive countries in South Asia after a binding Supreme Court ruling, and why London's 40 percent drop in air pollution deaths is both genuinely good news and more complicated than it sounds. Stay tuned til the end for another inspiring Emissary Shout-Out! Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422514 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  Gig worker rights, cervical cancer wins, and a hopeful take on human cooperation 26.06.2026 21min

  A study of more than 100,000 people across 125 countries found that people cooperate far more than they assume other people will. Hopeful news to receive in a world that feels so divided. This week Arielle and Karissa also cover gig worker rights getting their first-ever international vote, Pakistan scrapping its period tax after two young lawyers made it too hard to ignore, a farmer in rural Africa whose income jumped 50 percent because of a solar fridge, and a few lifestyle tips you'll want to try yourself this summer. And stay tuned til the end for another inspiring Emissary Shout-Out! Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422484 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes  
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  (Guest Interview) Hope can rise: two sisters in Gaza turning rubble into building blocks | Earth Prize 2026 19.06.2026 17min

  Tala and Farah Mousa received thousands of messages after they won the Earth Prize. "You gave us hope we had completely lost," people wrote. "You showed us we can be seen." They were sheltering in a tent when those messages came in. This episode is about what it takes to build something: a real, physical method for turning rubble into building blocks, while living inside the rubble. Arielle speaks to the teenaged sisters from Gaza about the idea that came from a textbook the morning after their home was bombed, the competition that brought their work to the world, and what they want for their community, their generation, and the ones who come after them. Connect with Build Hope Palestine: Follow Build Hope Palestine on Instagram: @build.hope The Earth Prize website: theearthprize.org Further reading: The Optimist Daily articles on Earth Prize 2026 regional winners Part I and Part II Learn about the Earth Prize 2026 global winner Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422438 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  From a 340-year slavery law finally repealed to pancakes for cigarette butts: 10 solutions this week 12.06.2026 22min

  A high-risk breast cancer diagnosis used to mean one thing: chemotherapy. A large UK trial just found that 68 percent of those patients could skip it safely, based on a genomic test that already exists and is already in use. Arielle and Karissa also get into the pigeon liver finding that stumped scientists for over a century, a California city that voted to permanently ban data centers, and France formally repealing a law that had been sitting on the books since 1685. Stay tuned until the end for this week's Emissary Shout Out! Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422400 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?lsc=41ef528d Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes  
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  Pancreatic cancer cracked, hepatitis B cleared, and wild mice who run for joy 05.06.2026 22min

  An oncologist cried at her desk when she read these latest trial results. Researchers put exercise wheels in empty fields and sand dunes, and wild mice found them and ran, unprompted, for no reward. A new drug just cleared hepatitis B from the body entirely for one in five patients. Not suppressed. Cleared. Arielle and Karissa also get into a 55-year study proving that banning toxic forever chemicals actually works, the surprising reason zebra striping cuts hangovers, and why Sweden's new screen time guidelines are aimed at parents, not kids. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422347 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http:// Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  David Attenborough's 100-year secret and seven other solutions this week! 29.05.2026 18min

  Sir David Attenborough just turned 100! Arielle and Karissa cover his 10-minute secret to a long life along with seven other solutions this week — belugas who prove that their species is capable of recognizing themselves, hemp plastic that survives boiling water, and an ocean sanctuary that might make fishermen richer by protecting the fish they can't catch. Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422300 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily/Weekly Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http:// Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes
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  (Guest Interview) She calls herself a mermaid now: How Swim Sista Swim Is Changing Who Belongs in the Water 22.05.2026 33min

  Stephanie McKenzie has been swimming since she was a child. She came to Swim Sista Swim as an instructor and, as you'll hear in her voice, is a vibrant and confident woman on all counts. Yet she still feels a twinge of doubt every time she walks into a public pool alone, still notices that more often than not, she's the only one there who looks like her. That's what Swim Sista Swim is trying to change. In this episode, Arielle talks with founder Carol Burrell, instructor Stephanie, and participant Janet Rose about why swimming has historically felt out of reach for Black women, and how together, they are changing that narrative for themselves and future generations. Carol just launched a second programme called Mandem Swim, which gives Black men access to the same safe learning space and sense of community so that they, too, can take advantage of their city's waterways. Connect with Carol Burrell and Swim Sista Swim: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: Carol Burrell Canal & River Trust: canalrivertrust.org.uk Transcript link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/?p=1422279 If you have questions, comments, feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hi, send a message to: [email protected]. Want to be part of the Optimism Movement? Become an Emissary. Subscribe to our FREE Daily Newsletter and follow us on Instagram, X, and Blue Sky. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http:// Theme and all original music by Marvin Lanes