Growing Up: Season 1

Vanessa

23min - Vanessa Aryee’s episode is about a young woman’s experience with colorism and perfectionism before she grew to love herself unapologetically. Vanessa finds community amongst other confident Black women, and is inspired to study psychology. Her ambition is to give back to her community and particularly young, Black women who lack the mental health support Vanessa wished she had. Directed by Ekwa Msangi.

Clare & Isabel

24min - Clare Della Valle and Isabel Lam are best friends who met through an unexpected commonality in middle school. Their story is about their friendship and their passion for giving back to their community. As young women from very different backgrounds, Clare is a young white woman and only child, while Isabel is the eldest of four siblings in a big Asian family- their friendship speaks volumes about love, allyship, and persistence. Directed by Brie Larson.

Amiri

24min - Amiri Nash’s episode follows a Black man’s journey towards finding the courage to be loved for who he is. This episode touches on adoption, gender identity and his religion, while highlighting the support of parents. Directed by Elegance Bratton.

Emily

26min - Emily Flores is the founder of Cripple Media, an online magazine and media company run by young people with disabilities. Emily’s story will dive into her experience of growing up with muscular dystrophy and facing ableism in middle and high school, dealing with depression, and pursuing her dreams to build a hip platform for young creatives in the disability community. Directed by Ashley Eakin.

Sage

23min - Sage Grace Dolan-Sandrino is a 20-year-old Afro-Latina artist and organizer. Despite years of struggle with her coming out journey, she has become an accomplished writer and the founder of TEAM Mag. The episode dives into her journey of finding her identity as a trans woman, and fighting for trans rights. Directed by Sydney Freeland.

David

23min - David Puma is a young Mexican-American man from California with a beautiful coming of age story that traces his long, emotional journey with basketball. While his basketball dreams and identity through sports were being shattered, David stepped out of his comfort zone by discovering poetry, theatre, therapy, and a masculinity program called DUDES to save himself from a downward spiral. Directed by Rudy Valdez.

Sofia

24min - Sofia Ongele is a student and self described “hacktivist” whose story follows her barrier breaking journey in STEM. After joining a diverse all girls coding camp, called Kode With Klossy, she rediscovered her confidence as a Black woman coder in a male dominated techbro culture. Directed by Yara Shahidi.

Alex

23min - Alex Crotty is a 20-year-old woman and mental health advocate. Her story dives into her experience being bullied and dealing with depression throughout her middle school and high school years. Directed by Nicole Galovski and Kishori Rajan.

Athena

22min - Athena Nair’s episode is about a young South Asian woman’s journey with her body image. Throughout the episode Athena goes from living in shame, to discovering body positivity, body positive social media content, podcasts, and the history and social prevalence of fatphobia. Beyond just her own courageous self-work, she now fights for everyone to love the body they have regardless of size, shape, or color. Directed by Smriti Mundhra.

Gavin

28min - Gavin Arneson’s episode is about overcoming the hardships of experiencing homelessness at a young age and losing his father at age 18 to addiction. Gavin’s dedication to doing well in school despite his circumstances earned him the role of high school valedictorian and a full scholarship to study nursing. Directed by Bernardo Ruiz.

Bee Attack