20 Inspiring People Under 20 to Follow on Twitter

Image via Complex Original

Handle: @randomkid

Though she’s only 19 years old, Talia Leman has dedicated half of her life to helping others. In 2005, at the tender age of 10, the Iowa tween managed to recruit a nationwide contingency of fellow pint-sized do-gooders to help raise money and support for victims of Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in more than $10 million worth of pledges. Today, Leman is the CEO and founder of RandomKid, a nationwide advocacy group that spreads the word that you’re never too young to make a difference in the world. Leman’s Twitter feed for RandomKid supports that mission, tweeting regularly about organization happenings and how her followers can take part, plus inspirational quotes and introductions to fellow teens who are making a difference in the world.

Handle: @JaysChallenge

In 2009, then-eight-year-old Jaylen Arnold founded the nonprofit organization Jaylen’s Challenge, an anti-bullying organization that raises money for educational materials and programs to raise awareness about the effects of bullying in schools. The cause was one close to Arnold, who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome and was picked on because of it. His Twitter feed helps to promote the teachings of his organizations, which produces its own anti-bullying wristbands, and makes frequent use of the group’s motto: #BullyingNoWay.

Handle: @PolishedGirlz

Creativity is the key to success for Alanna Wall, who found a way to combine two of her greatest passions—nail design and volunteerism—at the age of 10 when she started PolishedGirlz.org, a volunteer organization that provides ailing and special needs children in the hospital with a nail polish and makeover. Today, the organization boasts more than 75 volunteers and has chapters nationwide. For her part, Wall tweets inspirational messages and pictures of their satisfied clients, which serve as a great reminder that self-confidence can be built in a variety of ways.

Handle: @OsseoNiceThings

Osseo, Minnesota teen Kevin Curwick was never bullied himself (high school football captains rarely are), but he was bothered enough by the taunting he saw happening on a regular basis at his high school in 2012 to do something about it. That “something” was to set up a Twitter feed that would share only positive thoughts about the people in his community. Now with nearly 5,000 followers, the account is still going strong, regularly tweeting out happy things like “There’s no better way to make it a good day than to make the day better for someone else! #NiceItForward.”

Handle: @MalalaFund

Malala Yousafzai became a household name in 2012, when the Pakistani teen—who is now 16 years old—was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating for the rights to an education for young women like herself. In the year and a half since, she has made numerous television appearances, written an autobiography and started up The Malala Fund, an organization that is helping Yousafzai see her goal of an equal education for all realized. Those who follow her on Twitter will learn about the organization’s newest partnerships and what Yousafzai is up to next.

Handle: @shredkidscancer

California teen Teagan Stedman was just nine years old when he learned that his good friend, Alex, had been diagnosed with cancer. And Teagan wanted to do something to help. So, with the assistance of some very kind donations from the folks at Guitar Center and the famed Roxy, Stedman put on a concert—Shredfest—the proceeds of which would go to kids battling cancer. The event proved to be a hit and, five years later, the organization is thriving. Stedman uses Twitter as a way to help promote his cause, as well as other like-minded organizations.

Handle: @claratma

Self-described “environmentalist and science/space-enthusiast” Clara Ma isn’t your typical 17-year-old. The Kansas high schooler, who named NASA’s Curiosity Rover at the age of 11, is intent on making her otherworldly interests accessible to her fellow teens, sharing photos, links, stories, and infographics from sources as varied as Neil deGrasse Tyson to BuzzFeed.

Handle: @jackandraka

In 20 years, 17-year-old Jack Andraka’s classmates may be bragging about the time they scored the winning touchdown at their high school’s biggest football game. Andraka, who hails from Crownsville, Maryland, will be recalling how—at the age of 15—he developed a simple, low-cost, and 90 percent accurate diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer. But you wouldn’t know it from the bio on his Twitter feed, which does mention such achievement as winning an Intel ISEF Award, but gives top billing to the fact that he’s a whitewater kayaker.

Handle: @nickdaloisio

In 2013, Nick D’Aloisio quickly morphed from tech teen genius to multimillionaire when he sold Summly, the news-reader app he had created, to Yahoo! for an estimated $30 million. For a glimpse of what the whiz kid is up to next—or the stories that are of particular interest to him on any given day—one simply needs to follow him on Twitter, just as more than 15,000 other individuals have done.

Handle: @RubyKarp

Ruby Karp’s Twitter feed is a hilarious mix of self-deprecating selfies, praise for fellow Tweeters (Hey @Snapchat my mom hates you. But you’re still number one with me.), retweeted quotes from the likes of Lena Dunham and Gloria Steinem, and links to the work she does as a writer for HelloGiggles. Oh, and did we mention she’s 13 years old?

Handle: @Hicaduda

When he’s not retweeting quotes from the Dalai Lama, 15-year-old Colorado college student Santiago Gonzalez is impressing his followers with his seemingly boundless energy and ideas. The programmer-turned-computer science major—who entered college at the age of 12—has already developed more than a dozen apps, which you can check out here. So, ummm, what did you do today?

Handle: @Nolan_Gould

Don’t expect to see Modern Family star Nolan Gould take the same wrong turn that so many other child actors have before him. And he was clearly joking when he told Ellen DeGeneres about an epiphany he had while attending the Emmys a couple years back. “I’m driving in my limo, I’m like, ‘Wait a second, I’m 13, and this is my third time at the Emmys.’ It’s like, what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life? It’s kind of all downhill from now.” Gould, who is a member of Mensa, graduated from high school at the age of 13 and is getting ready to start college. But his sweet and funny tweets are full of gratitude for the life he’s living, and a far cry from the musings of Hollywood’s typically self-centered young television stars.

Handle: @WinterVinecki

When she was just nine years old, competitive triathlete Winter Vinecki lost her father to an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Which was the catalyst for Team Winter, the nonprofit organization she started shortly thereafter with the tagline “Chasing down prostate cancer.” Today, the 15-year-old has raised more than $250,000 for the cause, which she regularly tweets about on her totally uplifting page (in addition to normal teen topics, like getting her driver’s permit).

Handle: @Joey_Hudy

Joey Hudy has a saying: “Don’t be bored… make something.” The 17-year-old creator of the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon (which caught the attention of both POTUS and the First Lady at the White House Science Fair) extends his passion for keeping busy in creative ways to his Twitter feed, which is full of info on his upcoming Maker Faire appearances. That and age-appropriate tweets to groups like the Arizona Science Center, which note that his mom is coming to say hello on his behalf.

Handle: @KatiesKrops

Katie Stagliano’s commitment to maintaining vegetable gardens as a way to help feed those in need all began in 2008, when she brought home a cabbage seedling as part of a fourth grade science project. It wasn’t long until that seedling grew into a ginormous 40-pound vegetable, which eventually helped to feed 275 people at a local soup kitchen. Stagliano, now 15, never looked back. Her Twitter page is an extension of Katie’s Krops, her nonprofit organizations which builds and maintains community gardens that are used to help feed the less fortunate, and is totally inspiring.

Handle: @ZACH_BONNER

At the age of seven, activist/actor Zach Bonner founded the Little Red Wagon Foundation, a nonprofit group aimed at helping both homeless and underprivileged youth in his area by donating hundreds of backpacks that were filled with youngster essentials: toys, food, and school supplies. In the years since, Bonner has organized events for foster children and youth in domestic violence shelters and walked 2,500 miles across the U.S. giving out gift cards to the homeless. His tweets further Bonner’s message of social justice.

Handle: @maudeapatow

Maude Apatow has clearly inherited a funny bone from her parents. The sometime-actress and daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann has amassed more than 190,000 followers, who tune in for her refreshingly innocent-meets-worldly musings on life. (“I don’t know if my cousin realizes that everyone can see he keeps liking X-rated links on Facebook.”)

Handle: @AustinGutwein

In 2004, nine-year-old Austin Gutwein watched a documentary about kids who had lost their parents to HIV and AIDS and realized that they were really no different than him. So that year, on World AIDS Day, he organized a fundraising event in which he would take 2,057 foul shots—one for every child who would be orphaned by AIDS that day—and raised $3,000. Today, Hoops for Hope is a nationwide affair that has raised more than $3 million. He uses Twitter as a way to both share information about his organization and remind followers that we all struggle with the same problems.

Handle: @lianeal

If any teenager has the right to tweet about “me, me, me,” it would be Lia Neal, the Brooklyn-born competitive swimmer who won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Yet the 19-year-old—who counts Katie Couric among her more than 8,000 followers—is living proof that nice guys and gals don’t always finish last. Whether she’s sharing a photo from a day in her life as a typical college student (she’s recently traded coasts to study at Stanford University) or congratulating a fellow swimmer on an epic win, Neal does it all with genuine humility and a totally refreshing sense of humor.

Handle: @ColinJCarlson

Colin Carson is like a real-life Doogie Howser. The 17-year-old has already earned two bachelor’s and one master’s degree from the University of Connecticut, and is currently working toward a Ph.D in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California, Berkeley. And while his tweets clearly come from the mind of a highly intelligent individual, his thoughts on pop culture (and pop culture-related retweets) remind us that he’s still just a kid. (In a good way.)