In just one moment, Michelle Edgar knew she needed to “follow the music.” That was the advice of one of her colleagues at the time. So she quit her job to pursue a career in the music industry. And she never looked back.

Music Unites is a leading non-profit organization supporting music education around the world. Music Unites partners with musicians, celebrity ambassadors and music sponsors to promote music projects and events at local schools – educating kids through music.

Music Unites empowers children through donations from individuals, foundation partners, organization events and music education projects.

In just one moment, Seth Maxwell went from a 19-year-old college student to a powerful voice in the global water crisis. It happened over a cup of coffee and conversation with a friend, who shared photos from a recent trip to Africa showing the lack of clean, safe drinking water. At that moment, he knew he wanted to make a difference.

So he and his friends pooled their money together – $70 total – to hand out bottled water in the streets of Los Angeles. After hearing Seth and his friends explain the crisis, most people gave the water back and in turn Seth turned $70 into $1,700 which went directly towards their first rehabilitation of a freshwater well.

This moment was the beginning of the Thirst Project, which travels the country educating people on the global water crisis and the challenge to change it. In just seven years, they’ve raised over $8 million and provided over 300,000 people with safe, clean water and the journey continues.

Expelled from school when he was just 7 years old for drawing in class, Adarsh channeled his love of art and creativity into ProjectArt which he founded it in 2011. His goal is simple: to put paintbrushes in the hands of children who don’t have access to arts education. Today, ProjectArt is recognized as a model of change that can confront the national arts education crisis and impact youth on a larger scale.

Today, ProjectArt is building the nation’s largest free art school – without owning a single building. ProjectArt has grown from 1 class in Harlem to 23 classes in New York, 4 in Detroit and 5 in Miami.  By 2021, their goal is be in 11 cities nationwide – the next being Chicago, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. 

ProjectArt has proved to be an infinitely scalable program that continually produces results. What’s more, the majority of ProjectArt students are first time library goers.  Approximately 3/4 of students end up reading books in the library. 81% of students say ProjectArt increased their self-esteem. A recent student, Quentin, stated, “ProjectArt is the best thing to ever happen to me.”

In just one moment, Haile Thomas was inspired to focus her efforts on health and nutrition after her father was diagnosed with diabetes. At age 12, she founded the HAPPY Organization, which is committed to a single goal; to inspire healthier generations by engaging and empowering youth to make healthy choices through nutrition and culinary education. 

Today, the 15-year old continues to improve the health and wellness of children and families through education, outreach, and advocacy about proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices. She has worked as a health advocate, motivational speaker, and teen chef. She is also the youngest student currently studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

As a passionate advocate for youth, Haile has spoken at major health conferences across the United States and Canada, at the United Nations headquarters in NYC, and appeared on major television networks and in publications, like Food Network, YES Magazine, O Magazine, and Teen Vogue, to name a few.

Her dedication to inspiring young people to embrace healthy habits and become active change agents for their their friends and family is a shining example that one is never too young to make a positive and lasting impact in the world.

In just one moment, Blair Brettschneider went from tutoring a teen refugee girl in Chicago to launching what would become GirlForward. Blair has always been passionate about working with adolescent girls, especially within immigrant and refugee communities. She now dedicates her life to help solve the five major challenges faced by refugees:  language barriers, poverty, limited/interrupted education, social isolation and a need for positive role models.

GirlForward addresses these challenges by providing adolescent refugee girls with individual mentorship, educational programs and leadership opportunities, creating a community of support that serves as a resource and empowers girls to be strong, confident, and independent.

In 2011, Blair was selected by the Department of State as one of two Youth Delegates to represent the United States at the UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris, specifically for her work with refugee girls. In 2013, Blair was honored as one of five recipients of the Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Awards for her work with GirlForward.