Swara Nirav Patel, a rising senior at Carrollwood Day School, is passionate about conservation, leadership and community impact. Swara, who gave a TEDx Talk at 15, was recently honored with the 2026 Young Women of Promise Award by the Athena Society — a recognition awarded to just 10 junior girls from students across Hillsborough County. Swara shares more about her passions, goals and…
Eight-year-old Nia Williams, a Tampa Bay second grader, is a published author making her mark on the local literary scene. Inspired by a personal childhood moment, her debut book, “Did You Know God Made You Beautiful?” co-authored with her mother, Kiva Williams, shares a message of confidence and self-worth with other kids. When Nia is not…
The Gasparilla Music Festival brings thousands of Tampa Bay area music lovers together for a weekend of live performances, local food, and family-friendly fun. Behind the festival is the Gasparilla Music Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated not only to showcasing great music but also to expanding access to music education through initiatives like the Recycled Tunes program.
We’re sharing everything you need to know about this year’s Gasparilla Music Festival in downtown Tampa February 16-18, 2024!
Tampa Prep high school students Leela and Sonia are helping inspire the next generation of STEM leaders by coaching elementary robotics teams across multiple schools. Through competitions, teamwork and problem‑solving, they’re showing younger students, especially girls, that robotics can be both challenging and fun. What has surprised you most about working with younger students in…
USF is launching its inaugural NCAA Beach Volleyball season. We’re introducing you to head coach Pri Piantadosi Lima, a longtime professional beach volleyball player with an elite background, as she leads this history-making team in Tampa Bay.
As a Tampa Bay parent raising young children, Schuyler reflects on how a life-altering experience shapes the way he approaches parenting, resilience, and the fleeting nature of time.
The American Bios Project: Student-Led Veteran Storytelling High school students Drew Garcia and Paige Wilson are helping preserve Tampa Bay history in a powerful way: researching and writing biographies of veterans buried at the American Legion Cemetery. Through the American Bios Project, they’re ensuring that veterans’ stories aren’t forgotten and helping others feel connected to…
Get to know Dominic Fouché, Sheldon Fouché, and cousins Michael Kuhn, and Christian Kuhn – the four boys behind Kids 4 A Cause.
Get to know mom and businesswoman, Malissa Spencer, senior entertainment manager for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
For the Gramatica family, hard work and athleticism are part of the DNA. In 2003, Martin Gramatica helped lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl victory. Today, Martin has traded his kicking tee for a whistle — coaching youth soccer, cheering from the sidelines and mentoring his athletic trio: Nico, a kicker…
Local mom and changemaker, Angeline Howell, is inspiring hands-on learning, building community and shaping the future of education in Tampa Bay.
Meet Madison Richardson, a tae kwon do champion raising awareness for causes that empower kids and fund life-changing cancer research.
University of South Florida’s head volleyball coach, Jolene Shepardson, balances coaching life and motherhood.
Get to know Candace Donnelly and Whitney Williams, co-hosts of the popular parenting podcast, Mom Group Chat.
Triathlon siblings, Miller and Linden Brown, are making waves in Tampa Bay and sharing advice for other kids who dream of crossing the finish line.
Read about Dr. Lisa Hayes, a pediatrician and mom, and how she’s building her own practice while navigating motherhood and life’s challenges.
Learn how to make the middle to high school transition smoother with insight from pediatric psychologist Dr. Jennifer Katzenstein.
Tampa Bay Sun players Siena and Aaliyah share what it’s like to play high-level soccer in high school and how they’re preparing for Georgetown!
Get to know Decker Deady, Berkeley Prep high school senior dedicated to helping the No More Foundation carry out its mission to end poverty, orphans and human trafficking in Tampa Bay.
Get to know Tami Kent, founder of The No More Foundation, which aims to eliminate poverty, orphans, and human trafficking in Tampa Bay.
Read about She Is Football Weekend on March 7-8 and the Buccaneers’ efforts to empower women in football through tournaments, leadership, and community.
Discover Ananda and Keel Farms, two of our favorite local farms offering fresh food and seasonal festivities that showcase the best of Florida farming!
Learn all about how Liam Coen combines football and family in his busy life as an offensive coordinator coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Discover how Preston Rudie conquered the challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and the life-changing journey that pushed his limits.
When Nick DeCastro, a 2024 graduate of Steinbrenner High School, organized a peer-led intervention with the students he observed bullying others, he earned recognition from the school’s resource officer, Deputy Anthony Bennett. He also received Hillsborough County’s Anti-Bullying Advisory Committee’s annual Anti-Bullying Award for his courageous stand against bullying. Recognizing and Preventing Bullying The Situation…
It takes a village to raise a child – a familiar adage for parents. The same holds true for manatee rescue and rehabilitation, and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) is part of that village for Tampa Bay Area manatees. As of August 12, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Manatee Rehabilitation Center (MRC) is now open! Dr….
Parenting is challenging, embodied work. Amidst society’s current culture of achievement, parenting’s challenges expand. Concurrently, kids’ autonomy and free time contract (to almost negligible levels). Of course parents want children to succeed. Within achievement culture, however, efforts are misguided and counterproductive. The mother of a competitive dancer and soccer player, I also am in achievement…
Learn all about Bricks 4 Kidz owner and local dad, John Fontana’s new charity Kids Love Bricks, and how you can give back with LEGO!
What do you think of when you hear “summer slide”? Is it a super cool water slide at Adventure Island? Or how about sliding into home plate during a summer Rays game? Actually, the summer slide has to deal with learning loss over the summer. Research suggests students lose about a month’s worth of learning,…
Dr. Jessica Frakes, radiation oncologist from Moffitt Cancer Cener, shares how early screenings can safeguard your future with your children, highlighting the importance of listening to your body and advocating for timely healthcare decisions.
Discover how the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida are shaping the leaders of tomorrow. From fostering resilience and entrepreneurship to nurturing valuable life skills, this program is more than just cookies and badges—it’s about empowering girls to make a lasting impact in their communities and beyond.
Manatees are among Tampa Bay’s natural gifts. Aquatic mammals and herbivores, manatees spend spring days swaying through our area’s warming waters. Endangered species, manatees don’t thrive in water colder than 68 degrees. With no natural predators, cold temperatures and boat propellors are manatees’ greatest threats. Through more than 20 years of life-saving work, ZooTampa’s world-renowned…
Tori Penso, the first American to referee a FIFA Women’s World Cup final, has much to celebrate. The St. Petersburg-based mom of three, believes soccer has been a unifying gift for her family.
YMKG’s captain, Truett Gardner, will lead the legendary invasion. Truett shares treasured Gasparilla memories, extending from his childhood to ones made with his children, along with what he’s looking forward to for the 2024 Gasparilla season.
Jason Licht, renowned Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ General Manager (a position he’s held since 2014), is, foremost, a dad and husband. With wife Blair, he navigates the peaks, valleys and predominantly uncertain terrain of parenting. They met during his tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, when she lived in Manhattan working in finance. Over six years, they…
There’s something extraordinary about a life-comes-full-circle moment. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleader Shay Garcia had such a moment when her daughter, Johanna, stepped onto the Raymond James turf as a Bucs Junior Cheerleader. Shay and Johanna share their TBBC experiences. Kaylee Strobel, a former Junior Cheerleader and current Buccaneers’ Cheerleading and Mascot Coordinator, also knows full-circle moments with the Bucs. Before firing the canons, read their firsthand accounts about TBBC’s lasting impacts.
National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Tampa is rich with Hispanic Heritage. Two Tampa moms, originally from Puerto Rico, share details about their roots and raising their own children with Hispanic heritage in Tampa Bay.
Chris LaFace, president and CEO at RIPA & Associates, along with his wife, Angela (a critical care surgeon who recently paused her career for increased family time), made a groundbreaking donation and support the Big John exhibit as presenting sponsors.
We’re getting to know the mother-daughter duo behind Seventh Avenue Apothecary, Phala Pesano and Jessica Reisner, as they share how they’re letting their own little light shine and using it to ignite others’ lights.
Married, mother of two, Dr. Clark untangles why raising humans with strong senses of self is underpinned by parents’ self-care.
Lowry Park Zoo’s old Fairyland figurine restoration is underway, thanks to Richard Gonzmart of the 1905 Family Of Restaurants. See them at Ulele.
We’re getting to know Gary Wishnatzki, of Wish Farms, to learn more about the history of his family’s farming business in Tampa Bay and where they’re heading in the future.
For Trey Korhn, Gasparilla is a way of life. Here he shares some treasured memories he’s made as a member of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla.
Metropolitan Ministries offers year-round opportunities for kids to grow in gratefulness and giving, and especially this holiday season.
Logan Ryan, two-time Super Bowl champ and safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is grounded in gratitude, firm in family, and focused on football.
Melissa Thomas, a pediatric critical care physician, shares her story, and realization, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Get to know the magicians of Zubrick Magic Theatre in St. Pete, Ryan and Chris Zubrick as they share their family story of living life authentically.
The Glazer Vision Foundation is helping adults and children understand eye health as families gear up to send kids back to school.
Like the start of the new calendar year, the start of a new academic year is an opportunity to set goals and revise habits. That means, time management.
Devin White talks sharing the #GetLive mindset with his son, his teammates and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ community.
Started in 1984 by the National PTA, May 2-6 is National Teacher Appreciation Week. A time for willingly expressing gratitude to educators.
The space between childhood and adolescence (the tween years) is exhilarating, exhausting and best navigated as a team.
The Tampa mom talks about her children’s books written to help civilian families understand military family life, ‘The Military Child Chronicles’.
Entering March 2022, what have we learned from COVID? What opened because of closures? What previously shuttered parts of life are lit?
In time for Dry January, Janie Porter provides perspective on nurturing a fulfilling life without filling the tumbler.
Tara Payor talks one on one with Matthew Belopavlovich, artistic director for the Patel Conservatory about why theater is good for kids and families.
Tampa Bay dad Drew Weatherford is blessed that one of college football’s winningest coaches, Bobby Bowden, was among his nonparental adult figures.
In Tampa, Gasparilla is a way of life. Below deck, there’s more to Gasparilla than beads. Gasparilla is family. Gasparilla is friends. Gasparilla is a treasure chest of memories and treasure trove replete with tradition.
Former CBS network news anchor Maggie Rodriguez shares her journey of transitioning from a fast paced career in the newsroom to life at home with her kids in Tampa Bay.
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