After performing with a world-renowned orchestra, Stanford Thompson returned to Philadelphia to start Play on, Philly!, a free, afterschool music program for young children in under-resourced neighborhoods that helps them go back into the classroom and become better learners. Thompson gives his Brief but Spectacular take on how music can create harmony and opportunity.

In the years after Rwanda's genocide, how did women come to make up a large portion of the nation's parliament? Author and activist Swanee Hunt says their women's movement that grew out of necessity. Hunt, a former ambassador and founding director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School, gives her Brief but Spectacular take on women waging peace.

Stand-up comedian Phoebe Robinson almost quit the business when she felt like she didn’t belong in the male-dominated comedy world. But finding her niche with the podcast “2 Dope Queens” helped her realize that being different isn’t a bad thing. Robinson gives her Brief but Spectacular take on being a dope queen.

Joining the high school gospel choir was transformative for musician Zeshan B., the son of immigrants from India, who learned to sing his heart and soul out on stage. Now he's using his platform as an artist to speak out about racial unrest and injustice. Zeshan B. offers his Brief but Spectacular take on groovin' for change.