1. Maysoon Zayid
Think you’ve got problems? Comedian Maysoon Zayid can make anything you’re worrying about seem LAME. ‘If there was an oppression Olympics I would win the gold medal. I’m Palestinian, Muslim, female, disabled and… I live in New Jersey. If you don’t feel better about yourself, maybe you should.’
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Tavi Gevinson**
It’s easy to feel intimindated by the most grown-up teenager on the planet but Tavi Gevinson makes some brilliant points in her TED talk about accepting your flaws – complete with a picture drawn on Microsoft Paint saying ‘Flaws R Key’. Her advice? ‘Just be Stevie Nicks – that’s all you have to do. She has always been unapologetically present onstage and unapologetic about her flaws and about reconciling all of her contradictory feelings and she makes you listen to them and think about them. So, please, be Stevie Nicks.’
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4. Sarah Kay
Sarah Kay is a spoken-word poet, and her poem about what she’d tell her daughter is full of inspiring aphorisms to keep you going. Some of our favourites from her TED talk? ‘Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind our lungs how much they like the taste of air.’ And, ‘There is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away.’ We’re one snazzy filter away from posting these guys on Instagram.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.