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Speaker 1: First, though, we have talked on the show before about

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Speaker 1: foster youth in southern California and the struggles that foster

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Speaker 1: youth face when they, as you say, each out of

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Speaker 1: the system. So there's a seventeen year old. This is

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Speaker 1: a great story. There's a seventeen year old named Layla Turanchi,

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Speaker 1: high schooler from Brentwood. She decided to do something about it.

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Speaker 1: She decided to basically build and launch an app to

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Speaker 1: address this issue. She launched an app called Foster Buddy.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, Leila. It's so nice to meet you.

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Speaker 2: It's so nice to meet you as well. Thank you

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Speaker 2: so much for this.

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Speaker 1: Of course, we want to know more about why you

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Speaker 1: decided to launch this app.

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Speaker 2: So I'm a part of a foster family, and i

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Speaker 2: also run a five oh one c three foster youth

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Speaker 2: nonprofit called Cocoa's Angels based in Los Angeles, and in

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Speaker 2: the past several years, I've witnessed significant flaws in our

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Speaker 2: current system, especially with regards to helping foster youth stay

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Speaker 2: on their feet after they turn eighteen. So, while interviewing

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Speaker 2: and taking portraits of foster youth for a coffee table

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Speaker 2: book last year, it dawned on me that we were

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Speaker 2: failing a significant population of underserved youth and youth who

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Speaker 2: did the chance at having reliable mentors who needed supportive

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Speaker 2: role models in their lives to help keep them on track.

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Speaker 2: And I thought to myself, what better way to help

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Speaker 2: foster youth than to connect them with a mentor, And

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Speaker 2: what better way of helping society see foster youth potential

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Speaker 2: than encouraging them to become mentors. So just directed at

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Speaker 2: everyone who's interested in becoming a mentor, Imagine the impact

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Speaker 2: that you truly can have on someone who has no

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Speaker 2: one to turn to, And imagine how much just a

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Speaker 2: little commitment can do for someone who truly needs your help.

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Speaker 1: I vote for you for president running. So I mean,

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Speaker 1: just listening to you, you're recognizing an issue, being obviously

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Speaker 1: familiar with the system, and executing it. It's so very

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Speaker 1: impressive at seventeen years old. What's been the response since

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Speaker 1: you've launched Foster Body.

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Speaker 2: So, just to give a little background about what Foster

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Speaker 2: Body is, Foster Buddy is an app that matches foster

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Speaker 2: youth who are aging out of the system with adult

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Speaker 2: mentors across diverse professional fields and so on. Foster youth

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Speaker 2: no longer gets support versus from the state or county

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Speaker 2: welfare system. That's where foster body steps in. I think

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Speaker 2: a lot of the response, especially for mentors, is a

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Speaker 2: common theme I see with a lot of people who

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Speaker 2: really want to help and make an impact, but truly

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Speaker 2: just don't know how. I think the message I would

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Speaker 2: give to the listeners out there, and the response that

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Speaker 2: I've gotten from a lot of mentors, is that it

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Speaker 2: doesn't matter who you are, everyone truly can help. And

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Speaker 2: I think we live in a world where we make

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Speaker 2: so many excuses as to why we can't do something,

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Speaker 2: But what if we just try to give an hour

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Speaker 2: of our time every week or maybe even two, And

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Speaker 2: what if we put ourselves in shoes of someone who

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Speaker 2: didn't have anyone in their lives getting them giving them guidance.

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Speaker 2: So I think foster Body doesn't just transform lives of

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Speaker 2: foster youth, but it also transforms the lives of our

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Speaker 2: mentors who express expressed repetitively how much our app has

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Speaker 2: already changed them to And if someone's.

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Speaker 1: Listening right now and they want to be a mentor,

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Speaker 1: what can they do?

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Speaker 2: So essentially, the first thing I would say is to

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Speaker 2: simply go onto the app store, search up foster Buddy

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Speaker 2: and start creating creating an account. And so far we've

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Speaker 2: welcomed educators, medical professionals, lawyers, producers, web designers, and tech

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Speaker 2: industry experts onto Foster Buddy. But you and any by

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Speaker 2: any means do not have to have a medical degree

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Speaker 2: or a JD to become a Foster Buddy mentor, so

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Speaker 2: we welcome everyone. We ensure that each person has a

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Speaker 2: thorough background check with an InApp third party background check service,

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Speaker 2: and then we help pair foster youth with mentors based

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Speaker 2: on interest, experiences and career goals, so it truly doesn't

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Speaker 2: matter what your profession is. Foster Budy can help find

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Speaker 2: an emancipated foster youth who will benefit from the role

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Speaker 2: you can play in their lives.

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Speaker 1: Leila Taran, she's seventeen years old, a student that recognize

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Speaker 1: this issue in the system, and it's just really it's impressive,

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Speaker 1: it's incredible. What do you want to do in ten years?

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, I wanted to ask the exact same question, Ryan,

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Speaker 1: you can ask it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, No, Where do you see yourself in ten years?

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Speaker 1: Leila?

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Speaker 2: So I see myself stepping into the realm of policy

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Speaker 2: and being able to tangibly make this change and be

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Speaker 2: the change that I see, like want to create in

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Speaker 2: this system. And I think for me, a lot of

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Speaker 2: people ask me what my dream for foster body is.

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Speaker 2: And although it would be ideal for every foster youth

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Speaker 2: to be logged onto the app as soon as they

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Speaker 2: turn eighteen, my goal isn't just that, But it's just

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Speaker 2: for foster youth to know that they have this as

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Speaker 2: a crutch to fall back on. So even if they

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Speaker 2: choose not to use it, it's so important to just

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Speaker 2: allow foster you to know that there are people that

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Speaker 2: truly care for them, because once they turn eighteen, they

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Speaker 2: truly do not have anyone. So just knowing that they

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Speaker 2: have this is a crutch to fall back on, it

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Speaker 2: is the most important thing. Yeah, you still need that

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Speaker 2: guidance at eighteen exactly.

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Speaker 1: I'm blown away. I'm blown away. Well, thank you Lena

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Speaker 1: for coming on. It's so nice to meet you. And

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Speaker 1: continued success and again, when you decide to run for president,

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Speaker 1: please come back.

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Speaker 2: We're in I will, I will, all right.

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Speaker 1: Bye bye bye. I'm blown away by the poise, the execution,

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Speaker 1: just everything that she said, it's really that's like touch

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Speaker 1: my heart. It's very, very needed and impressive all of it,

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Speaker 1: and she'll be eligible to run in twenty forty two,

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Speaker 1: so get ready. Wow, fantastic