Social Good Innovators

When Mashable first sat down with Yara Shahidi in 2020, the young actor was leading the Emmy-nominated sitcoms Black-ish and its spinoff Grown-ish. But Shahidi, barely beyond her teen years and in between shooting, wasn't dishing set secrets. Instead, she was there to discuss the role of corporate philanthropy in closing the digital divide, serving as a high-profile voice fighting for gender equity and educational access. 

In quick succession: In 2017, Shahidi founded the mentorship program Yara's Club; in 2019, she ran the youth voting initiative Eighteen x 18 alongside publisher NowThis; she profiled Hilary Clinton, and was given the seal of approval from Michelle Obama; and she starred in films like The Sun Is Also a Star and Peter Pan & Wendy.

And more than five years, 14 seasons, and her own Barbie doll later, the 25-year-old Harvard graduate is doing it again, now as an advocate for radical positivity through her first podcast, "The Optimist Project." In conversation with changemakers across industries — titans of their crafts as well as movement leaders, including Keke Palmer, Jaylen Brown, and Alok Vaid-Menon — Shahidi teaches her fans, and more than 8 million Instagram followers, how to cultivate hope and ensure resilience in a world that needs both, desperately.

Cristina Mancini is undeterred in her mission to get 1 million Black girls working in tech by 2040. As CEO of Black Girls Code — which offers tech skill-building for Black girls and other historically underrecognized groups — Mancini is leaning into both AI and Hollywood to achieve her goal of more parity in Silicon Valley. Just this year, Mancini created a new AI Expert-in-Residence position at BGC, with computational scientist and diversity advocate Dr. Avriel Epps filling the role.

BGC is also collaborating with Latimer.AI to ensure diversity is ingrained in its Large Language Model. Then, BGC teamed up with Ironheart star Dominique Thorne, with the MCU actor encouraging girls to follow in the footsteps of her character, Riri Williams, an inventor and tech savant.

“Every day, we hear how AI is leaving people behind, and jobs are being replaced. At Black Girls Code, we are doing something about it,” Mancini tells Mashable. “Our Code Along [YouTube] series has reached millions of viewers. We were intentional about rolling out AI curriculum in our summer camps, doubled the number of camps, and expanded into new cities this year… We’re choosing to make sure everyone has the skills, confidence, and power to shape what’s next, because who is coding your future matters.”

Imani Barbarin launched her website Crutches and Spice in 2014, writing about her life as a Black woman with cerebral palsy. Over a decade later, the 35-year-old disability rights activist has amassed more than 812,000 followers on TikTok alone, with a further 303,000 and 215,000 on Instagram and X, respectively.

Based in Pennsylvania, Barbarin has spent over a decade advocating for people with disabilities and was behind the viral Oscars hashtag #DisTheOscars in 2018. She has continued to educate people in the years since, using her relatability and sense of humour to speak on important issues such as accessibility, intersectionality, and the impact of politics and policies on disabled people's well-being.

Taylor Cassidy is the personality and mind helming the viral TikTok series "Fast Black History," a minute-or-less video project that seeks to address a glaring gap in the public's understanding of Black American history. In addition to subverting the average viewer's standard education, the series revolutionized the way users and creators interacted with the app's "endless scroll" format at the peak of its popularity in 2021. When Cassidy first started, TikTok was the landing page for dances, recipes, and dalgona coffees. Now, it's a home for activists, digital educators like Cassidy, and a new generation of politically-engaged young people. 

"Historic and other academic short-form content has grown immensely over the past few years, and I'm proud to have been a contributor in that, " Cassidy told Mashable. "I've been blessed with an audience who also has something to say. When I post Black history videos, I always see people commenting their own perspectives, recommending other people whom I can make a video on, and talking to each other about what they've learned. I feel like I've created a safe space for people to talk about things in society, namely Black culture, that affects them deeply."

Cassidy is also the author of Black History Is Your History, which transforms her online mission to universalize this knowledge into an aspirational tale of what we could all have if we understood our country's real history. She's the face of the YouTube series Black Girl Magic Minute, which breaks down facets of Black culture into easy-to-watch mini video essays, and reaches over 3 million followers across her pages. Honored on Teen Vogue's 21 under 21, Forbes' 30 under 30, and, most recently, TIME's 100 Creators list, the 22-year-old now takes her spot among the Mashable 101, an example of what happens when social platforms actually work in service of the greater good. 

Julie McFadden, aka Hospice Nurse Julie, somehow makes talking about death and dying less daunting. In her Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok videos, she gives viewers a glimpse of what happens during the "dying process" to alleviate their fear and anxiety about it — regardless of whether they or someone they love is currently in hospice.

"Death is so misunderstood, because it is never shown," she said in one TikTok featuring the death of a patient not under her care (she provided a trigger warning to viewers at the outset). McFadden's unique but compassionate insight and candor have won her more than 2.7 million followers, and regularly bring dozens of viewers into her comments to share their own stories about death, creating a rare space on social media to relate over a universal but taboo human experience. McFadden's popularity led her to write Nothing to Fear: Demystifying Death to Live More Fully, a book that quickly became a best-seller when it was published last year.

Dr. Joel Bervell is on a mission to elevate truth over misinformation when it comes to medical myths. The Black physician, who graduated from medical school in 2024, started posting explanatory TikToks as a student in 2019. He specifically addressed misconceptions and myths that disproportionately affect Black patients, and talked more broadly about racism in medicine. When Bervell highlighted how pulse oximeters, which measure blood oxygen, are less likely to accurately detect oxygen saturation levels in patients with darker skin, the video went viral and became the basis of his popular series on racial bias in medicine. Over the past five years, Bervell has informed audiences on TikTok and Instagram, where he has more than 1.5 million followers; launched an animated YouTube series for kids interested in medicine; and started The Dose, a podcast on health policy — all while finishing medical school and beginning his residency. Bervell has been recognized by the Peabody and Webby Awards for his work communicating science to the public. You may have also seen him featured as a "Rad Human" on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

By her own account, Dr. Julie Smith didn't think her mental health TikToks would go viral when she started posting them in 2019. But Smith, a mental health professional, has since gone viral many times over. Maybe it's Smith's knack for always having the right prop to explain a common mental health experience — imagine a (fake?) frog in a large beaker on top of a heat source to describe how people become accustomed to harmful situations. Maybe it's her compassionate yet direct delivery and practical tips that draw in viewers. Regardless, Smith now has 10 million followers and subscribers across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. The social media fame has since led to two best-selling books that offer manageable ways for people to deal with the feelings and experiences that dog them, including the recently released Open When: A Companion for Life's Twists & Turns ― Research-Backed Skills for Managing Vulnerability and Responding to Mental Health Challenges.

Kahlil Greene, 25, better known online as @kahlilgreene and the Gen Z Historian, has built a following of more than 660,000 on TikTok and 221,000 on Instagram with sharp, visually engaging lessons on civil rights, cultural appropriation, and often-overlooked stories from Black history in America. Launching his platform in January 2021, Greene was the first Black student body president at Yale, and as the New York Times put it, he’s been making and teaching Black history ever since. His "Hidden History" and "How Everything on This App Originated with Black People" TikTok series break down and reframe history for a Gen‑Z audience, and his videos have more than 50 million views. His influence spans not just TikTok and Instagram but also Substack (History Can’t Hide), a National Geographic docuseries, and an upcoming book deal with Random House. In the years since he graduated from Yale in 2022, Greene has been busy, and he’s been named to the TIME100 Creators list, recognized as a Peabody Award winner, a two-time Emmy nominee, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. He's cemented his place as one of the most impactful young voices reshaping how history is taught in an online world.

As a licensed therapist, relationship expert, and New York Times bestselling author, Nedra Glover Tawwab (@nedratawwab) should really be known as the Boundaries Queen. While she maintains a private therapy practice, her nearly 2 million followers tune into her content across Instagram, Facebook, and her You Need To Hear This podcast to access her calm, straight-talking advice covering everything from dealing with in-laws and asking for what you need with a romantic partner to practicing healthy communication and trusting your inner voice.

Born and raised in Detroit, Tawwab now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family. She's written two bestselling books — Drama Free and Set Boundaries, Find Peace, and also has a children's picture book titled It's OK To Do What Makes You Happy.

Fans love Tawwab's online content for being a kind of beacon of light on our feeds, doing her part to make the internet a place for good. Sprinkled throughout her feed are #nedranuggets: highly shareable, text-based posts with advice and mood-boosting wisdom. "A hug, from the right person, can shift your whole mood" is one of our personal favorites.

From writing a federal law to flying to space, Amanda Nguyễn has made a career out of breaking barriers. The activist and founder of Rise drafted the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act in 2016, which unanimously cleared the U.S. Congress and enshrined protections for millions of survivors. Her work has since earned her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30, and recognition as one of Time’s Women of the Year in 2022. Nguyễn didn’t stop there. In April, she soared into history as the first woman of Vietnamese descent to fly into space, aboard Blue Origin’s NS‑31 mission. During the mission, she carried 169 lotus seeds into orbit for post-flight study of how space conditions affect plant growth. Whether she’s drafting life-changing legislation, launching into space, or building a social following of more than 1.6 million on TikTok and Instagram, Nguyễn is reshaping the world — and sometimes, quite literally, rising above it.