SheSoars! is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing mental health equity by empowering youth, especially female-identifying individuals, to lead culturally responsive wellness initiatives promoting community transformation.
This year, SheSoars partnered with VOX ATL for teen-led media coverage at their 2026 Teen Health Summit in partnership with The National Coalition of 100 Black Women. Teen girls from across Metro Atlanta gathered for informative workshops on digital media literacy, creativity, and wellness. VOX Teens and NearPeers supported teens as they expressed themselves walking the red carpet, recorded an on-carpet interview, and discussed stress and positive ways teen girls address mental health challenges.
Music Credit: Lounge Electronics by trickytwoaudio via Envato
Transcript (Edited for clarity)
Olamide: Hi, this is Olamide with VOX ATL. We are at the Teen Health Summit today, and I will be interviewing teens to get to know them and learn about some of the things they’re looking forward to at the event. We’re going to be talking about stress.
Kristin: My name is Kristin.
Olamide: What are you most excited for about this event?
Kristin: Just seeing all of the different people come in and talk. And also, I’m excited for our presentation. I feel like we’re prepared and we’re going to do great, so I’m just excited for everything.
Olamide: Hi, what’s your name?
Alysia: Alysia. I’m most excited about getting to learn new information on how to deal with stress.
Olamide: Hi, what’s your name?
Kennedi: Kennedi.
Olamide: What are you looking forward to for this event?
Kennedi: I’m hearing what the speakers have to say.
Khloe: My name is Khloe. This is my first time actually coming to Coca-Cola, so I want to see what this is about and meet new people.
Olamide: What’s your name?
Jamaya: Jamaya.
Olamide: And what are you most looking forward to for this event?
Jamaya: To have fun and learn new things.
Olamide: What are your names?
Flourish: I’m Flourish.
Thaishy: Thaishy.
Olamide: And what are y’all most looking forward to for this event?
Flourish: I’m really looking forward to the new experiences. I just wanted to see what’s going on, and I’m ready. I’m so excited to see what’s happening.
Thaishy: I’m excited to learn about health, even though I’m not looking to be in health. I feel like it’s such an interesting topic.
Jekoria: Hi, my name is Jekoria. What I’m most looking forward to is networking with people, learning new things, and just having a good day.
Deasia Atkins: My name is Deasia Atkins. I’m most looking forward to experiencing the glow-up and stuff, seeing different ways I can manage, or just find a better me.
Kenya Dixon: My name is Kenya Dixon. What I’m looking forward to, I think, is networking, because I love meeting new people. I love making new connections and discovering new opportunities, events and programs, because they might even be things I need in the future that can help me. I also want to discover something new about myself, like what I like or my creativity, and that’s what it’s about for me.
Shania: My name is Shania. What I’m most excited about in this experience is learning new things, and I know this might help me with my future career.
Angela: My name is Angela. What I’m most looking forward to is learning new experiences and new things that I can learn for myself and to work better for myself.
Cassandra: My name is Cassandra Bell. I am looking for opportunities like scholarships and knowing if they were giving out any, like some type of mentoring. I already have it, but I was open to that. Then it was also another opportunity with jobs, and I did sign and put my name on there.
Makaiyla: Hi, my name is Makaiyla. I’m looking to meet new people and just explore and see what’s in the future.
Amani: Hi, my name is Amani. I’m looking for more opportunities and learning how to grow as far as the future, and just knowing what I want to do in life, and also building new connections with people.
Elyse: Hello, my name is Elyse. I am here to find out what’s different about scholarships, find out different ways to do things, and how I should get more help.
Kamiyah: My name is Kamiyah. I’m here for new opportunities and the food.
Olamide: And what does stress feel like for you?
Kamiyah: It’s been kind of under pressure, putting a lot of pressure not only on myself but on the time and people — I guess the people around me — but I try to just focus on myself.
Olamide: Who or what has been causing you the most stress for the past three months?
Guest: Because I be so busy, I have a problem with getting to school on time. It’s just like arriving early — waking up in the morning, it’s really hard. But I’ve been working on that. That’s the only thing I have trouble with right now.
Guest: I would say school, grades and sports, mostly math, and having to do your best when it comes to the sports you really want to do other things.
Guest: Then you have to worry about friends and your relationships with them. It’s a lot, and it can get stressful and very overwhelming, I would say.
Guest: It is not a who, but I do have worries about the future and what I want to do after I graduate, and what I want to do in life.
Guest: Not knowing what you want to do in life has taken a toll on me. But yeah, that’s just trying to figure out life. I feel like life is stressful because you have to deal with a lot of stuff. You’re trying to live up to everybody’s expectations and trying to be the better version of yourself, and yeah. So in the last three months, I feel like school’s just taken over everything.
Guest: Then on top of that, there’s stuff outside of school that you have to do, and then you have to start back with Monday through Friday at school, eight hours a day. And not only that, it’s practice after school, tutoring and all this stuff. Something that stresses me out. It just be so stressful.
Guest: Yeah, school is stressful, sports, but then when you get home, you’ve got stuff to do, you’ve got relationship problems — you just, everything, it is just so much stuff that’ll just trigger you.
Olamide: And how many times in a week do you think you’re typically stressed?
Guest: Maybe like twice a week. Like, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would say a 7 sometimes. Because life, school can be stressful sometimes, but I have to bring myself together.
Guest: Remember that I got this, and I can keep pushing.
Guest: I would also say a 7 out of 10, mainly because I do so many things all the time. Like I’m always busy, but I like to keep myself busy — but it’s like a certain type of busy, so sometimes it actually stresses me out. Like Flourish said, I had to keep myself together, and I got this.
Olamide: When you’re stressed, who are you most likely to talk to?
Guest: When I’m stressed, usually I take a spiritual approach, so I like to pray or talk to my mom, ’cause I’m pretty close with her.
Guest: I’d say my mom, my family, and my man.
Guest: I mostly go to my friends who I feel like understand me a lot.
Olamide: When you are stressed, what most helps you feel better?
Guest: Listening to music, talking to some of my friends about the situation, usually calms me.
Guest: I would say what helped me feel better is definitely music or like joining a hobby that I mostly like. Or just probably like daydream — I don’t know, going to lie. Like I do daydream a lot.
Guest: Some people are going to hate when I say this, but I would say, like she said, music and my significant other. People be like, “Oh, you pour your all into this man, you always going to him.” But it is like, that’s somebody I can confide in, and everybody has someone that they confide in, whether it is their mother or a friend. But for me, that’s my significant other. That’s like my best friend — we were friends before our relationship. So people don’t look at it in that aspect. But that’s one of the things, because that’s somebody I can talk to, I can get a lot off my chest with.
Guest: For me, it will most definitely be music, because when I’m stressed, there are certain songs you can listen to that can just calm you down a lot, even when you’re sad, upset, or anything like that. So it would definitely be music for me and family, depending on who it is.
Guest: For me, it would be sports, because I feel like that’s the way I can get my anger and my emotions out, and just being around people that I trust and can feel better around.
