I Was Bullied Out of My School. So I Built a Nonprofit. Meet Aanya Mukherjee, Founder of BYF
At 14, Aanya Mukherjee walked into her freshman year like any other student — nervous, hopeful, ready. What she walked into instead was relentless bullying. She did everything right. She spoke up. She worked with her school counselor. Her family engaged the administration.
Aanya founded Buy Yourself Flowers, a teen-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with one radical idea: your self-worth should never depend on someone else's permission. Don't wait for others to help you. Buy yourself flowers.
Latest Episodes
Episode 1: Why Mental Health Is a Leadership Issue | Aanya Talks w/ Dr. Kellie McElhaney
Mental health isn't separate from leadership — it's at the core of it. In this conversation, Aanya sits down with Dr. Kellie McElhaney, Founding Director of the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership (EGAL) at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, to explore why the next generation of impact leaders must put mental health at the center of the conversation.
Aanya met Dr Kellie during a summer business course on campus and was drawn by her talk.
Episode 2: We Need to Talk About the Schooling System | Aanya x Kim Cawkwell -Challenge Success /Stanford
Grades, test scores, college admissions — is that really what success looks like? In this episode, Aanya sits down with Kim Cawkwell, Director of Programs at Challenge Success, a nonprofit school reform organization affiliated with Stanford University's Graduate School of Education, to have an honest conversation about what's broken in our schooling system — and what it's costing students.
Episode 3: Student Burnout Is Real. Let's Talk About It. | Aanya x Ms. Kelly (The Harker School)
Straight A's, AP overload, extracurriculars, college apps — and somewhere in the middle of it all, students are burning out. In this episode, Aanya sits down with Ms. Kelly McKeown, a student counselor at The Harker School in San Jose, CA, for an honest, personal conversation about what student burnout really looks like behind the scenes.
This one is personal. Ms. Kelly was Aanya's own counselor at Harker, and their relationship gives this conversation a depth and honesty you won't find anywhere else.
Episode 4: You're Not Safe Online. Let's Fix That. | Aanya ft. Ria Sethi, Founder of Cyber For Youth
1 in 3 teenagers have experienced cyberbullying — and only 10% will tell a parent when it happens.In this episode, Aanya sits down with Ria Sethi, the teenage founder of Cyber For Youth, to talk about what's really happening to students online
Episode 5: We Need to Talk About How Parenting Shifts During the Teen Years | ft. Dr. Dhara Meghani
In this episode, Aanya sits down with Dr. Dhara Meghani, a licensed clinical psychologist, Associate Professor and PsyD Program Director at the University of San Francisco, and founder of Parentline, to have the conversation most families avoid: what happens to the parent-child relationship when your kid becomes a teenager?
Episode 6: How Innovation Shapes Teen Mental Health | Aanya x Madhavan Vinod (Entrevamp)
What if the same entrepreneurial mindset that builds startups could also build better mental health? In this episode, Aanya sits down with Madhavan Vinod, founder of Entrevamp and Chief Impact Officer of a global youth-led movement, to explore the powerful — and often overlooked — connection between innovation, entrepreneurship, and adolescent mental wellbeing.
Episode 7: We Need to Talk About Disordered Eating in Teens | ft. Sam Finkelstein, RD (Beyond Measure)
In this episode, Aanya sits down with Sam Finkelstein, RD, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and co-founder of Beyond Measure, a therapy and nutrition practice in Redwood City, CA, to unpack the dangerous normalisation of disordered eating — especially among teens — and why so much of what we've been taught about food, bodies, and health is actually making us sicker.
Aanya met their team in California while working on BYF
Episode 8: Period Poverty & Teen Mental Health: The Conversation We're Not Having |Aanya x Anwika Ghankota
In this episode, Aanya sits down with Anwika Ghankota, founder and CEO of the California Women's Hygiene Initiative (CaWHI), to have the conversation most people are still too uncomfortable to start: how period poverty silently shapes adolescent life. Anwika founded CaWHI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to ensure equal access to menstrual hygiene products across California. What started as a community-driven mission has since served 3,500+ individuals, delivered over 2,000 pads and tampons, and raised $1,500+ through sanitary pad drives, community awareness booths, and partnerships with organizations like Abode Services Sunrise Emergency Shelter, the Union City Family Center, and the Berryessa Union School District.
Episode 9: The Psychology of Screen Addiction: What It's Doing to Teens | Aanya x Dr. Shiveta Gandotra
In this episode, Aanya sits down with Dr. Shiveta Gandotra, PhD, LMFT, LPCC — a licensed psychologist, marriage and family therapist, and founder of Blossoming Lives — to explore the psychology behind screen addiction: how smartphones, social media, and gaming platforms are built to exploit our brains' reward systems, why teens are uniquely susceptible, and what it actually takes to break free.
Dr. Gandotra brings a rare combination of clinical depth and real-world relatability to this conversation. She holds a PhD in Psychology, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in California