I Bounced Back

Alex Messenger was 17 when he and his friends went on a six-hundred-mile canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness. Twenty-nine days into the trip, while out hiking alone, Alex was attacked by a grizzly. Left for dead, he woke to find that his summer adventure had become a struggle to stay alive. He has recently released the book “The Twenty-Ninth day”, which tells his incredible story of encountering the wild nature and surviving the grizzly attack.

Daniella Mestyanek Young was born a third-generation member of the religious cult, the Children of God, which is notoriously known for its unconventional and criminal practices, including forced polygamy, child marriages, and widespread pedophilia. As a 15-year-old, Daniella was excommunicated from the cult. She moved to the United States alone to rebuild her life in freedom. 

Justin Robbins is an autistic advocate who champions inclusion, awareness, and acceptance. Throughout his advocacy work, he challenges problematic narratives about autism and inspires us to rethink what it means to be autistic.

Lisa Sargese is a professor, certified hypnotist who focuses on helping people live healthier and happier lives. Many things that she teaches others come from her own struggles and experiences: she has been fighting with depression, anxiety, and a severe eating disorder since her early childhood. 

She wrote a book about her weight loss journey "Diary of a fat girl".

Yeonmi Park grew up in the darkest place on Earth - North Korea. She was living next to the river separating her country from China. Yeonmi fled North Korea at the age of 13, crossing the partly frozen Yalu River into China in 2007. It took her two years to reach the long-awaited freedom in South Korea. Today, she lives in the United States; she is an internationally known human rights activist and a leading voice of oppressed people.

Marc Lewis is a neuroscientist and professor of developmental psychology. Having been through addiction and come out on the other side, he has decided to research addiction to challenge the modern-day consensus on drug dependence as a brain disease, arguing that, in reality, it is a complex cultural, social, psychological, and biological phenomenon.

Jasvinder Sanghera was 16 when she decided to run away from her family home to escape a forced marriage. Her choice of freedom didn't come without devastating consequences: her family disowned her, and she has never met them again. However, this traumatic event did not break Jasvinder. She founded Karma Nirvana, a British charity that supports both men and women affected by honor-based abuse and forced marriages. Today she is a highly acclaimed international speaker, an expert advisor, and an author of the bestselling memoir Shame.

Dave Chawner had been struggling with eating disorders since he was a teenager, but he only acknowledged that years later, when he was diagnosed with Anorexia. 

Today, he uses comedy to talk about mental health and to remove the stigma of eating disorders as he recovers from his battle with anorexia. 

Jennifer Vaughan was diagnosed with HIV and later with AIDS when she was 45. She has never expected to hear this diagnosis. Today, Jennifer takes every extra moment to continue fighting against the spread of this virus and stigma around it through advocacy.

Imagine growing up without having running water, a fridge or a toilet, without knowing if you have enough food to eat tomorrow, or if you or your loved ones will return safely home or be attacked by gangs. Simon Okelo was born and raised in Kisumu slums in Kenya. Despite growing up at the margins, he managed to leave the slum. Today he lives in the United States and works towards helping children in his hometown slums.