A live student experience for schools and youth-serving organizations
Helping students build the self-awareness, self-regulation, and agency to navigate life when it gets hard.
Spoken & featured in
What schools are seeing
Disengagement, conflict, frustration, withdrawal, and classroom disruption rarely tell the whole story. Beneath the behavior may be a student struggling to process emotions, overcome setbacks, feel connected, or recognize their own ability to make a different choice. Students need more than expectations placed upon them. They need practical tools for understanding themselves, navigating difficult moments, and moving forward with greater confidence and purpose.
of educators say student misbehavior has increased since 2019.
EdWeek Research Center, 2025of high schoolers say they don’t feel connected to others at school.
CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2021average improvement in behavior and school performance for students who build social-emotional skills.
Durlak et al. meta-analysis, 270,000+ students, 2011Behavior is a signal, not the whole story — which is why the experience has to be impactful and stick with them.
The experience
Resilience: Who Are You Becoming? is a 45–60-minute live student experience built around whole-person development. Through honest conversation, reflection, storytelling, and practical guidance, students are encouraged to recognize what they are feeling, understand what may be driving their reactions, reconnect with their strengths, and decide who they want to become.
Students leave with:
Why Yaya
This is an educator and former administrator who understands classrooms, student behavior and school systems. The experience is designed for the students in the room while supporting the larger work educators are already doing around resilience, self-regulation, student leadership, and whole-person development.
“I don’t come to give students another lecture. I create an experience they can feel.”
Who this is for
K–12
Assemblies, advisory blocks, and student leadership days built around belonging and resilience.
See the K–12 page →Higher ed
Orientation, first-generation programming, and leadership cohorts for students becoming who they are outside of home.
See the higher ed page →Events
A keynote or breakout for student leadership summits and educator PD days that want something felt.
See the conference page →Community
For organizations investing in the young people they serve or sponsor.
See the corporate page →Bring this to your students
Tell us a little about your school, organization or event, and Yaya will follow up to talk through fit, format and availability.