414: Maya Penn, Teen TED Talker & Entrepreneur

Maya Penn is just 16 years old and has accomplished a lot already. She has probably done more in her life thus far than I have done in my 36 years and I would guess, more than a lot of us have done in our lives. She's an incredible inspiration, to not just people her age, but people of all ages.. She is many things -- an artist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, environmental activist, speaker, author, animator and coder. I discovered in interviewing her that she is home schooled, so that helps with giving her the time and the flexibility to pursue all of these things. But it’s not just the flexibility of her school schedule that has awarded her of all this successes, she is an instigator, visionary and she’s not afraid to be afraid. Maya started her own company, Maya's Ideas, at just 8 years old and then went on to create an eco-friendly clothing and accessory brand where she donates 10-20% of her profits to local and global charities. This also inspired her to start her own non-profit, Maya's Ideas 4 The Planet, where she works to give back to girls in developing countries. Maya is also the youngest person to give back-to-back TED Talks, three in total. Her latest TEDWomen Talk received over 1.2 million views and is one of the top 15 TEDWomen talks of all time. She's out with a new book titled You Got This!: Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, And Change Your World where she's sharing an inspirational and innovative blueprint for teens and young adults to help them maximize their full potential. For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.