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A SPECIAL INTEREST SECTION BY MEDIAPLANET
Empowering the Next Generation
The social and economic challenges facing young people are growing. Learn how we're helping youth in low-income communities overcome barriers and reach their full potential.
How Spencer Barbosa Is Inspiring a More Confident Generation In a world driven by comparison, Spencer Barbosa discusses building confidence, protecting mental wellbeing, and defining success on your own terms.
Read the entire interview online at innovatingcanada.ca.
Q&A
As someone who has built a strong platform and community online, what does empowering the next generation mean to you? It feels like the greatest honour! If it means the next generation is going to be confident and love their bodies, that is a huge win. I feel really lucky to have such a strong platform online with young girls. I always wished I could've had someone to watch online who made this type of content while I was in high school, so I became that someone.
Young people today are navigating constant pressure both online and offline. What do you think are some of the biggest challenges youth are facing when it comes to confidence, identity and self-worth? Comparison is at an all-time high. It's never been easier to compare your life and your looks to someone else's than it is now. For example, you used to have to
actually visit somebody's house and see it in real life to know what it looked like. Now you can see their house on TikTok every single day and compare it to what yours looks like. The same thing goes for people's bodies. Plus, it has never been easier to edit your photos (Facetune, filters, and Photoshop). It's so easy to compare yourself to the girl you see on your For You page. However, you don't even know if that girl looks like that in real life.
posting on TikTok. I had zero intention of this becoming my job. However, I got really fortunate and had something blow up, and since then I've turned it into a full career. I have now been doing this as my full-time job for six years. Will I be doing this job when I'm 55? I have no idea. But for now, I'm really happy with what I'm doing, and I feel so honoured to get to do it every day.
What advice can you share with others struggling with body image or low self-esteem?
As more young people think about their future careers and goals, what advice Be kind to yourself. would you give to It’s okay to have someone feeling days where you’re not pressure to "have obsessed with yourself everything figured but it’s not okay to out"?
Be kind to yourself. It's okay to have days where you're not obsessed with yourself, but it's not okay to be your biggest bully. be your biggest I distinctly remember You don't have to being 17 years old, bawllove every single thing bully. ing my eyes out to my dad, about yourself, but you're saying, "I have no idea what I not allowed to say bad things want to do with my life, and I'm so lost." about yourself. I was right around that age where I If you're having a bad body image day, had to apply to university (if I wanted to throw on an outfit that you feel comfortattend) and make these huge life deciable in, even if that's a sweatshirt that's sions. My dad said, "I'm 50 years old, and a little too big for you. Find what works I don't even know what I want to do with for you. For example, if I'm having a low self-esteem day, I'm going to put on a cute my life." To be completely honest, I think we're outfit. I'm going to do my makeup, and all a little bit lost. How are you supposed I'm going to go on a walk and think about to know what you want to do with the rest everything and anything but my body. of your life when you're so young? We put too much emphasis on what A few weeks after having that crashwe look like. It's more important to be a out over being so lost in life, I started good person than a good-looking person.
2 5 M IL L I ON FO R GOT T EN F UTURES :
How One Canadian Charity is Rewriting the Narrative for Pakistan’s Children TCF Canada is helping children in Pakistan access the education they deserve.
I
magine a crisis affecting 25 million children. In Pakistan, that is the staggering number of youth completely locked out of the classroom, with girls facing the steepest barriers due to poverty and safety fears. Without a foundation of literacy, these children face a future completely devoid of opportunity. Yet, a profound generational transformation is being driven from right here in Canada. TCF Canada, through its intermediary organization in Pakistan, The Citizens Foundation, is dismantling these barriers. By building purpose-built schools in the
hearts of underserved communities and employing a unique, all-female faculty model, they have unlocked safe access to education for those who need it most. This isn't temporary aid—it is a proven engine for permanent economic mobility. Named a Top 10 Impact Charity in Canada for six consecutive years, TCF Canada is a local powerhouse driving worldclass results. Changing a child's future permanently starts right here in our own backyard.
To learn more, visit tcfcanada.org. This article was supported by The Citizens Foundation Canada.
Written by Emily Hellam
Publisher: Sasha Zeldin Business Development Manager: Maya Mezerhane Country Manager: Samantha Taylor Content & Client Success Manager: Nicole Kansakar Creative Director: Kylie Armishaw Digital Traffic Manager: Vansh Chandwaney All images are from Getty Images unless otherwise credited. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve The Toronto Star or its editorial departments. Send all inquiries to ca.editorial@mediaplanet.com.
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