Being The Story sounddelivery

Alex Rush is a 15-year-old from Rochdale. He believes the media negatively stereotypes young working class lads like him but he’s passionate about making positive change in his community. Alex is a young activist with Manchester-based Reclaim, a youth leadership and social change organisation that supports working-class young people. Alex shares how the pandemic has impacted him as a working class young person. Alex’s parents are both key workers, working on the frontline and Alex asks has enough been done to ensure that key workers are seen as the indispensable workforce they are?
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Onjali is an award-winning children’s author; her debut book The Boy At the Back of the Class won the Blue Peter’s Children’s Book of the Year 2019 and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2019. Her second book The Star Outside My Window, focuses on the tragic impacts of domestic violence on the lives of children. Onjali’s third book The Night Bus Hero explores themes of bullying and homelessness, while celebrating kindness. Onjali shares the story behind her book, and how we can take action against homelessness at a time where it’s more important than ever to have a home. 
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Electrician by day, Craig set up Men Unite one morning in 2019 before work. He wanted to give some friends an outlet to speak and not be judged. Men Unite is a closed Facebook group to help men deal with any issues they face; suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, addiction, debt, bereavement. They now have over 12,000 members in 78 countries with volunteers around the world so there’s a person available to chat 24 hours a day. In this talk he describes the impact of lockdown on men’s mental health and how online networks like Men Unite are providing a vital connection.
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7-year-old Nylah had a very memorable experience of lockdown. She performed her poem ‘Black’, inspired by rapper Dave’s song, in front of over 5000 people at the Black Lives Matter protest in Cheltenham. Nylah’s poem centres around self-love and her own experience of being Black with pride. Videos of her performance have been watched by millions, and reposted by celebrities like Missy Elliott and platforms like NAACP, NowThis, BBC, Al-Jazeera. Nylah performs some of her poetry, and speaks to Jude about what it means to be young, gifted and black. 
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Dom’s 13 year old daughter, Issy, was diagnosed with rare bone cancer in 2011. Issy’s treatment was characterised by two extremes; the fantastic care she received, but also feeling isolated, unable to receive accessible information about what would happen to her. As MD of Corporation Pop, a digital innovation agency, Dom wanted to use his professional skills to address the problem and so his company is building the world’s first healthcare app to use augmented reality, gamification and artificial intelligence to deliver health information directly to children. Xploro App (previously Patient’s Virtual Guide) aims to reduce the stress and anxiety associated with hospitalisation and improve the health literacy of children. Join in the conversation online using #BeingtheStory

Marina is an award-winning journalist who responded to the invasion of Iraq, by collecting narratives of people who’ve lived through injustice and tragedy, yet sought forgiveness not revenge. This formed The Forgiveness Project, a charity using the experiences of victims and perpetrators to explore reconciliation. Marina believes sharing real stories of transformation reaches across rifts to create a new story. This work has led to Marina speaking at the UN and featuring in film documentary Beyond Right and Wrong. In 2015 Marina published her book ‘The Forgiveness Project: Stories for a Vengeful Age’.
Join in the conversation online using #BeingtheStory