Maya Brown

1 month ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

Tatiyana Rich was 7 years old when her father was murdered. After her mother remarried, Rich said her household turned toxic and she kept trying to escape. “I needed to express the fact that I was angry and sad and confused as to what happened in my life and why things were going the way that they were,” she said. The support system at Starting Right, Now helped her heal.

1 month ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

When Tawanda Scott Sambou was assigned to find a story for a CNN series commemorating the 75th anniversary of World War II, the first thing she asked herself was, “What role did Black women play in the war?”She thought she was coming to a dead end in her search until she came across a documentary on the all-women, majority-Black 6888th Battalion. “I was so intrigued,” said Sambou, who is now a senior producer at NBC News. “I just thought, ‘Wow, people don’t know about this troop, this unit.

2 months ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

When Tanaya Pinkston was 5 years old, she witnessed her mother have a stroke. It was one of the scariest moments of her life, but the compassion and care she received from the 911 operator left a lasting impression. “As soon as they heard that it was a child’s voice on the phone, they were like, this is probably a serious situation, and they had to take a different approach to it,” Pinkston said.

Mar 25, 2025 | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

As a teenager, Aaron Valencia didn’t think much about his future. He struggled with drug addiction, homelessness and family members in and out of prison. He wouldn’t have guessed that one day he would be running a free vocational training center for youth just like him. In 2014, Valencia created the Lost Angels Career Center, formerly known as the Lost Angel’s Children Project, to provide at-risk youth with stability and set them on a clear career trajectory.

Mar 18, 2025 | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

Lucia Isabel De Jesus lost her father when she was just 7 years old. As the days and months passed, she wondered if she would ever stop feeling overwhelmed with grief. Relief came in the form of the Imagine Center, near her town of Mountainside, New Jersey. There, counselors and other grieving kids made her feel less alone.