Latest Episodes
Meet Aanya, Founder of BYF
At 14, Aanya Mukherjee walked into her freshman year like any other student: nervous, hopeful, ready. Instead, she was faced with bullying and harassment her second semester. She spoke up, worked with her school counselor, and engaged the school administration. However, she was met with radio silence.
Aanya founded Buy Yourself Flowers, a teen-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with one idea: your self-worth should never depend on someone else's permission. Don't wait for others to help you. Buy yourself flowers.
Episode 1: Student Burnout Is Real. Let's Talk About It. | Aanya x Ms. Kelly (The Harker School)
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 2: We Need to Talk About the Schooling System | BYF x Kim Cawkwell from Challenge Success
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: Why Mental Health Is a Leadership Issue | Aanya Talks w/ Dr. Kellie McElhaney
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.
Episode 4: 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 5: We Need to Talk About Cybersafety with Teens | BYF ft. Ria Sethi, Founder of Cyber For Youth
In this episode, Aanya sits down with Ria Sethi, the teenage founder of Cyber For Youth, to talk about the reality of cyberbullying for teenagers and how to mitigate the situation.
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 powerfu 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 normalization 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.
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.
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
Ep 10: What Adults Get Wrong About Teen Mental Health |Aanya xDr. Subha Thiagarajan Harvard / McLean
"They're just being dramatic." "It's a phase." "We didn't have these problems growing up." Sound familiar?
In this episode, Aanya sits down with Dr. Subha Thiagarajan, MD — a board-certified psychiatrist with over 35 years of clinical experience treating children, adolescents, and adults — to unpack the critical blind spots adults have when it comes to understanding teen mental health, and what preventive measures families, schools, and communities can actually take before things reach a crisis point.
Dr. Thiagarajan's credentials run deep. She is a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, an assistant psychiatrist at McLean Hospital (one of the top-ranked psychiatric hospitals in the country), and an assistant professor of psychiatry at UMass Medical School. She is also affiliated with UTMB Health-Galveston Campus and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
Ep 11: Social Exclusion Is Destroying Teen Mental Health | Aanya x Prof. Aline Hitti (USF / UMD)
Being left out doesn't just hurt your feelings. It reshapes how you see yourself, how you trust others, and how your brain develops. And for teenagers, the damage can last far longer than the moment.
In this episode, Aanya sits down with Professor Aline Hitti, PhD — Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco and Director of the SeaRCH Lab (Social Reasoning in Childhood) — to explore one of the most underestimated forces shaping adolescent mental health: social exclusion.