Coming up on The Whitney Reynolds Show.

I will say don't wait to be great.

That is my motto, right here.

Whitney: Yeah.

You can't get anywhere if you don't try.

I had rescued a cheetah cub a few weeks before and because of my fundraising, they had named it after me.

Announcer: The Whitney Reynolds Show is funded by Yates Protect, a minority owned business focused on protecting communities and providing solutions to safety problems for public and private institutions, including air purification, metal detectors, thermal detection, and more; Together at Peace: a community lifting you from coping to hoping; O'Connor Law Firm: when it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

Xtreme Xperience: making the world's supercars accessible, so you can experience being in the driver's seat on the race tracks and back roads of our country; Theraderm Clinical Skincare: committed to developing skin care products designed to restore skin health and promote natural beauty.

And by 10 West Real Estate Group, UFC Gym Lakeview, Ella's Bubbles, Hi-Five Sport Chicago, Fresh Dental, Kevin Kelly Real Estate Agent, Concierge Aesthetics & Plastic Surgery, Deluxe Cleaning Services, Mid-West Moving & Storage, TuTu School Chicago, Goldfish Swim School Roscoe Village, and by these funders: Today's guests are all under 18 years old and they're proving that age does not define us when it comes to crushing goals and making waves.

[opening theme music] Whitney: Meet the ladies of Amber Brown a show airing on Apple TV Plus, and preteen star, Carsyn Rose, whose character shares her unfiltered look at finding her voice in the midst of a major life change.

I feel like it's a very empowering character.

She's so smart and articulate and she's so funny also and sweet.

And so, I just feel like that was definitely a really fun role to play because she sends out such an amazing message, Amber Brown.

She can teach kids about empathy and about working through hard times and hopefully that can help people out.

And I feel like it's super nice especially because I don't see a lot of people that look like me on TV, so I'm hoping that girls all over the world, if they feel like they're unseen on television, they can see Amber Brown and feel like they're connected to her.

Whitney: At just 11 years old, Carsyn is bringing a real-life hard topic to center stage.

The first two episodes when she's dealing with her dad moving back, but balancing the fact that her mom and her new boyfriend have to be included in the picture too, and she's just like, who's happiness is most important?

So I definitely think that was a really hard moment for Amber and it's probably hard for a lot of people in real life.

Whitney: Amber Brown is a show that hits on acceptance and change something executive producer, director and writer Bonnie Hunt zeroed in on.

This was something really personal for me.

A lot of my relationship with my mom is in the show.

You know, mostly, I just hope they're entertained and they find comfort in it and maybe the ripple effect will be a little more kindness.

Like Carsyn was talking about, empathy.

And I care about these kids so much.

I mean, all the actors.

I'm so lucky that all of them said yes and wanted to come on board.

But with Carsyn, I want her to feel good, not only now about the show but many years from now when she looks back.

So, there's a responsibility there because it's going to affect her life.

Whitney: a series that reminds us, from kids to adults, our story does have a major impact on us.

And once upon a time we were all kids and along the way, just like Amber Brown, we found our voice.

Honestly, it's more that it's reflective of my experience as a mom in a really deep and powerful way and in a way that I haven't really seen before.

I feel like some of the scenes that we've had together feel lifted straight out of my living room.

I love that we get to see-- we really get to have empathy for both sides of the spectrum.

We get to see the kid's perspective and we get to see the parents perspective and it's crafted in such a way that you you allow these two generations to really meet one another as they're navigating these really rough waters of big change.

So, I know that as a mom myself All I want to do is love my kid.

And I try my best and I fail all the time, but when I'm moving toward them and working toward repair, and working toward peace, motivated by love always, then you can get through just about anything.

And that's what we we hope is the story that we can tell to everybody out there.

My mom would always say, "Be mindful of the energy you're putting out in the world because it has a ripple effect."

And that ripple effect can be wonderful.

It could be something really positive and thought-provoking and funny.

Carsyn: I just feel like it's just a matter of keeping myself in perspective.

I started out in some really small roles and then I built myself up to this.

So, I'm definitely glad to be here right now.

Future Madam President How's that sound?

Well, for our next guest, that dream came to life after campaigning for a major cause that got recognition from the White House.

Hi, my name is Mari Copeny.

I'm also known as Little Miss Flint.

I'm 8 years old and I live in Flint Michigan.

Whitney: At just eight years old, Mari made national news.

This was alongside her hometown.

Both were in the headlines for the water crisis.

This came after the discovery of lead in Flint's pipes.

However, this little girl not only took a stand for herself, but others, becoming a voice for change.

Originally, what sparked my mission was back then, you know, the water crisis happened, but I honestly just really wanted to take a bubble bath and I couldn't take one because of the water crisis and people were getting rashes and stuff like that.

Kids were getting lead poisoning.

Whitney: Looking for a way to make a difference, Mari wrote a letter to the current president at the time, Barack Obama.

I didn't really think that I was going to get a response or whatever, but he responded and he came to meet me inside Flint.

Whitney: The visit from President Obama was just the beginning for Mari.

Today she is still campaigning for clean water across America.

She hopes to run for president in the future and she has gained the nickname Little Miss Flint.

Mari: Everybody's deserves clean water because Flint isn't the only one that has a water crisis.

America has a water crisis.

Ready, set, go.

Now, we're changing lanes in a very fast way to a girl that's chasing dreams, literally.

Making her mark each time she crossed the finish line.

That's our next guest becoming known as one of the fastest in her City.

Welcome to the show.

It's very nice to be here.

We are here with Chicago's fastest kid.

What does that mean?

There was like this competition at Gately Stadium after it just opened and the winner-- and they had all these CPS kids running and the winner got to be crowned Chicago's fastest kid and meet a bunch of cool people like Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and it was really a good experience.

Yeah, and so were you just racing against all the kids in Chicago that day?

It was something that you had to do at your school at like, a bunch of local locations.

I did one at Lindblom Park and once you qualified, you got to go to Gately and run there.

And it was just the 60-meter dash and it was it was really cool.

Did you ever think when you started your running journey that you would be deemed Chicago's fastest kid?

No, that's actually a really funny story because I actually only started track because my brother did basketball at this place from 6-8pm and it was like my dad's basketball camp.

And I was just sitting there every single Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8pm doing nothing.

And they had this track team there called the Jopac Jets and I was like, "Hey, well why don't I just sign up for this?"

And I just started running.

I was like, maybe eight.

Whitney: Yeah.

I just running for fun because I had nothing else to do.

What's incredible to me about being deemed this title is you had just gotten off of COVID, meaning your school was shut down you weren't even able to practice the way you used to.

How did you train for this?

Well, my coach, my AU coach, had these little pods that they did and basically, he did two or three people on the whole team and he'd be there for like, five hours just training two people at a time.

And then we'd train for like an hour and then we'd leave.

And that's how we would train.

Or we'd do Zoom calls and go to a tract somewhere and just on the phone just, "Okay, run for five minutes.

Okay, run for 10 minutes."

It was it was difficult, but we got through it and that's really all that really matters.

And then you get to the starting line that day.

What was going through your head?

I was a little nervous.

And I wasn't just nervous because I was about to run, but it was also like all the publicity and stuff like that.

Whitney: Oh, was that all going on?

Yeah, and everybody that was there.

And I know my whole family was there in the crowd watching and they were so excited and I just wanted to make them proud.

Oh and you did.

What was it like when you found out that you won?

Oh, my dad.

That's the only thing I could think of.

My dad was so happy.

He's the one that wanted me to do it in the first place.

And I was I was just happy in general.

We went out to eat that day and it was very nice.

Who inspires you?

My mom, or my grandma inspires me too, but my mom, she goes to every single one of my track meets.

She gets me everything I need.

My dad too.

And your grandma, why does she inspire you?

She's just a strong person?

She's an immigrant from Haiti.

Well, I can see the strength the runs in the family genes.

Yeah.

All the sports.

What would you want little kids to know that or maybe like at a track like thinking, maybe I'll try this?

If you don't do it, you'll never know how good you can be at something.

Because if I never ran track, I could have just-- I don't know what I would be doing right now.

I ran track because why not?

And you've also lost races before.

Let's talk about that.

How do you get back up after a loss?

That was hurt because I feel like I went in there with a very fast time and I got third and that did hurt.

It hurt my ego, but I think you have to realize that the people that beat you are the people that also push you, and you can't really get better without running against people that are better than you.

It's hard at the time but it makes you stronger.

Yeah, it does.

All my friends, the track is such a community.

I've made lifelong friends from just track in general and they're always the ones that help get me back up and be like, "Oh, you're fine."

You know, you said this Olympian was there the day you won and you got to meet her.

What would, whenever you get to the Olympics-- I'm just going to say that because you know, I can kind of see it developing here.

How old are you, by the way?

I'm 16.

Sixteen, okay.

And you're already fastest kid of Chicago.

So when you are an Olympian and you have your little face on the cereal box, what would your slogan be?

Like something like I just said, "You can't get anywhere if you don't try."

Maybe something like that.

I love that.

Well, thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for having me.

And from the fastest kid in Chicago to a young man who's saving the fastest mammal on land.

Let's take a look.

Cheetahs have been my favorite animal since I was really, really young, like three years old.

And when I was six, I read a book about cheetahs that said that they may go extinct in my lifetime, and, you know, being six, that made me really sad.

So I asked my mom what we could do to help and she looked into wildlife sanctuaries-- reputable wildlife sanctuaries-- that we could raise money for and volunteer at.

And I just felt that it was really just a shame for them to go extinct.

And then as I learned more about them and learned more about conservation, I realized that they were immensely important to the ecosystem and the environment that they're in, and if they do go away then it's a huge blow to everything else that exists there.

Whitney: Starting off young and working as fast as the animal he cares for, Joris has made many contributions to helping preserve the cheetah population and now people are taking note.

We went to N/a'an ku sê, which is the wildlife sanctuary we work with, and we fell in love with the place.

And I kept fundraising every year since and we've went back every year.

They have some captive animals that are either like they've gotten so used to humans that they aren't able to be released again or are too old.

So we prepare food for them and clean their enclosures in a very safe way.

We do a bunch of project work like fixing fences.

When I was seven, we did a tour from Zambia through about Botswana and through Namibia and we stayed for one extra day to visit N/a'an ku sê which is where I raised the money for.

They had rescued a cheetah cub like a few weeks before and because of my fundraising, they had named it after me.

That was just-- That was really touching, you know that they had just done that for a seven-year-old kid.

So that was when I first really fell in love with it.

Whitney: His mission doesn't stop with cheetahs, but also educating others on the importance of wildlife.

I do want to do something that I feel helps the world, like helps people, animals.

Every animal serves a purpose.

Once a certain number of them disappeared the Jenga Tower of the world will kind of just slowly crumble around us, and I just really don't want that to happen.

The most important thing is to teach people about the importance of carnivores in ecosystems all around the world, and I think that's the most important thing that I do.

[theme music] Welcome to Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs and a team that inspires kids to dream big.

[smack of the bat] Having the emblem of the Cubs on my jersey and going in places and traveling together, it taught me to be a lot more respectful and to keep myself at a higher standard because knowing what I represent.

Right now, I see baseball in my future in college.

I'm definitely going to play in college.

They helped me get there for sure with the coaching.

They actually talked to coaches for me and put my name out there for me and everything.

So, definitely with college.

Whitney: That's Jalen, a 16-year-old who's been directly impacted by the Cubs Charities, a non-profit organization and the humanitarian arm of the Chicago Cubs.

Cubs Charities to me is a place where you can get a start, a great start.

They'll help you with whatever you need, on or off the field in baseball or out of baseball, with tutoring, or the baseball aspect needing extra work or not.

That's definitely what Cubs Charities means to me.

I think it's a really fun sport to play.

I probably like learning new ways to pitch and learn how to do more things.

Whitney: The Chicago Cubs are stepping up to the plate and giving the Youth of Chicago a real chance to knock their dreams out of the park.

My role with Cubs Charities is the manager of Youth Baseball and Softball Initiatives.

That's the technical term, but we have a variety of programs.

It's not just about baseball or softball.

It's about the whole person.

We offer civic engagement.

We offer academic coaching as well as basic essential skills.

So we've actually been around since the 80s, but in the last several years since the Ricketts took ownership of the team in 2009 Cubs Charities have really blown it out of the park.

No pun intended, right?

So, we mobilized the power of sport to champion youth, families and communities.

And I think what's really important about you know, not just-- That mission is a pretty general mission, but what our focus areas are are on our own programs that focus on sport for youth development and academics, and then we have our investments in safe places to play through our Diamond project.

And then we do our strategic grant making across the city to different nonprofits that are focused on mainly children and youth.

[smack of the bat] Okay, so tell us some of the success stories that have happened right here.

Right here terms of our programming this is the cathedral of Chicago.

Babe Ruth played here.

Hank Aaron played here.

Ernie Banks played here.

This is a special place.

We try to get our kids here as much as possible because it's a special moment.

Working here at Wrigley, I kind of get desensitized but I have to understand that every time an opportunity rises to come here, it's a special moment for the kid and the families.

Are you kidding?

It's a special moment for me, right now?

Oh, is it?

I am just soaking this in.

Amazing.

Any tips that you would tell?

Like, if I was up-- Is this where they bat?

Oh, no, this is not where they bat.

It's a lovely scene right now.

They're obviously prepping for opening day.

But that's where they're going to take their first at bat and throw out the first pitch next week, one week from today.

Do your kids ever get to run the bases?

We actually were able to take BP here.

Whitney: What does BP mean?

Chris: Batting practice.

Whitney: Batting practice in Wrigley?

What were the kids' faces like?

Chris: I mean, they couldn't take it all in.

Like, they're so shocked.

The ability to play where all their heroes play, the major league players, like, it's unreal.

They take a lot of pictures of the ivy.

They take a lot of pictures over here.

Just being around home plate, it's unforgettable.

It's creating those moments.

So, everybody coming out today, I hope you got a lot of fun learning hitting, fielding, base running.

I want to do a quick check-in with everybody.

Okay, so go back to the thumb up, thumb to the side or thumb down.

Go ahead close your eyes.

Close your eyes.

Coaches, you're looking for those eyes closed.

And one, two, three.

What would be a life play you would want your athletes to walk away with.

I think grit.

Just be gritty.

And life's hard.

As we grow up-- We have to remember, kids are growing up.

They're not grown up.

They're not ready to deal with it.

But we're there to support them.

We're not there to replace the parents.

We're here to supplement for them and anything that we can offer whether it's financially, academic coaching, or just being a role model, that's the number one thing.

You get knocked down, how many times do you get up?

And I think the two keys to grit are persistence, right?

Always show up, always come back.

And then resilience.

You're not always going to show up at 100% every day.

If you're at 70, you give us your 70.

If you have 50, give us your 50 and just know that half of it is showing up and then being there mentally.

[theme music] And finally, we sit down with the inspirational to Jahkil Jackson who is empowering communities and the voice of the youth.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

So we've been calling this Little Kids Dream Big, and you are probably twice as tall as me and how old are you?

I'm 14.

Fourteen going on changing the world.

You actually started a lot of your advocacy when you were five years old.

Take us back to kindergarten to Jahkil.

Yes.

So, when I was five years old, I went to go feed the homeless with my aunt and my cousins for the first time.

So, I didn't know there were homeless people before this and I was really surprised about it.

I didn't really understand why there were people laying on the ground with sleeping bags and dirt.

So, I went home and asked my parents if we can give them all houses.

So obviously, this is just my five-year-old mind racing like crazy just thinking of whatever I could.

And of course they said no, and told me why we couldn't do what I wanted to do at the time.

And I kept asking.

I didn't stop.

So eventually that showed them how much of a passion I have for this issue.

How much I really wanted to do something about it.

So what did you do with next steps to help solve this issue?

Yes, so my next steps really were having the conversation with my parents.

They sat me down.

We talked about the different things that we have on daily basis that they don't have and we thought about "blessing bags."

So blessing bags, they're basically bags full of toiletry items like soap, tissue, socks, hand sanitizer, wipes.

Just the daily essentials that we can sometimes take for granted that they don't even have.

That is really incredible because I'm just picturing.

I have five year olds and to wrap your mind around something like this and actually create change at such a young age is absolutely amazing.

When you were younger you also, as you were trying to change the world, encountered bullying.

Yes, so in six and seventh grade, I had a tough time going through bullying and it was like some death threats happening.

Sometimes there was even like some physical things going on.

So, it was a really tough time for me, and at a certain point I got to point where I just wanted it all to stop.

So that's exactly when quarantine happened.

Now, I didn't wish a pandemic would happen, but it kind of came right on time.

I was able to think about my relationships that I was in, and friendships, and I just kind of reconstructed myself pretty much and get better.

And you said it came at kind of the perfect time when the pandemic was happening because it had you regroup and you regrouped in some big ways during the pandemic.

So, I wrote a book.

I accomplished that goal, so it was really satisfying for me.

It's about bullying and helping other young kids get through that tough time.

It's about my experience with buying that I just had went through.

So it's called "I Am" and it's just to help other young people get through that tough time.

You've also done a lot of other things during the pandemic.

You now have a Marvel character that is you.

Tell us about that?

How does that even happen?

Yes, so that actually wasn't something that I reached out to them for.

They emailed us and asked us if we wanted to be a part of a campaign called Marvel hero project.

So they invited us to New York to do like a watching, a screen watching.

So they actually came to Chicago to film me and they created an episode for me.

Wow, what is your superhero?

What does he do?

I have the power, super speed.

They gave each of us a power and mine is super speed.

And they gave us a comic book and an episode on Disney plus.

Oh, that's incredible.

What was that like for you getting that call?

I mean, it was unbelievable.

Like, growing up and watching Marvel your entire life, like watching Black Panther, Spider-Man, all them being your favorite superheroes.

You always dream or act out you maybe like fighting or some with your brother or something like that or with your friends, like you're that superhero.

There's always those moments in your life, but you never actually think that it will come true and you would be in the same category.

I was going to say I don't think very many people can say they have a superhero named after them.

You've also earned a lot of other titles.

Give us a few of those.

So, I've worked with Nike.

I was a part of the Always Believe campaign with LeBron.

I've got to meet Obama.

He named me one of 2017's most influential people.

So, it's all a lot of great things that have happened.

That is amazing.

The platform you formed is truly making waves.

What is next for you?

What's next for me is to work with more young people, just getting the word out.

Us as young people, we are going to be leading the world in the future, so we have to start now so that we're prepared for when we're adults.

And to the kids that are watching today that you are a role model to, what would you say to them?

I would say, don't wait to be great.

That is my motto, right here.

Yeah.

Say it again.

Don't wait to be great.

Don't wait to be great.

Yeah, so it means that young people do not have to wait until we're adults to do a lot of things that we dream of doing when we're young right now.

We can start now and be the best when we're adults or be the best now.

It really isn't an age limit be.

Be the best now, I love that.

Well, thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for having me.

After meeting today's guests, I am so inspired by this next generation.

I'm also encouraged for what the future holds.

And I am reminded age is just a number and no matter what trip in life you are going around the sun, you can shine bright.

Remember your story matters.

Announcer: The Whitney Reynolds Show is funded by Yates Protect, a minority owned business focused on protecting communities and providing solutions to safety problems for public and private institutions, including air purification, metal detectors, thermal detection, and more; Together at Peace: a community lifting you from coping to hoping; O'Connor Law Firm: when it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

Xtreme Xperience: making the world's supercars accessible, so you can experience being in the driver's seat on the race tracks and back roads of our country; Theraderm Clinical Skincare: committed to developing skin care products designed to restore skin health and promote natural beauty.

And by 10 West Real Estate Group, UFC Gym Lakeview, Ella's Bubbles, Hi-Five Sport Chicago, Fresh Dental, Kevin Kelly Real Estate Agent, Concierge Aesthetics & Plastic Surgery, Deluxe Cleaning Services, Mid-West Moving & Storage, TuTu School Chicago, Goldfish Swim School Roscoe Village, and by these funders: Announcer: For more information on today's program visit www.whitneyreynolds.com or get social with us.

Facebook: @WhitneyReynoldsShow Twitter: @whitneyreynolds or on TikTok and Instagram: @whitneyó_reynolds.

Kids: Our mommy!