SuperTalks by SuperAcademy

Lauren MacKinnon

Raising confident kids in a fast-changing world starts with better conversations. SuperTalks is a podcast by SuperAcademy for parents, educators, and anyone invested in helping young people thrive in the next decade. Hosted by Lauren, the series explores what kids really need right now - not just more confidence, but a stronger sense of identity, emotional regulation, self-awareness, communication, belonging, and purpose. Visit us to learn more: https://mysuperacademy.com/ Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy Through conversations with experts, leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers, SuperTalks looks at the future of childhood, leadership, AI, social media, friendship, and the human skills that will matter most. At the heart of every episode is one powerful question: what helps a young person discover who they are and what they're capable of? Because every child has a superpower. Our job is to help them see it. Join the SuperAcademy World and sign up to our newletter: eepurl.com/jhcvEc Discover IRL Workshops: https://mysuperacademy.com/pages/superacademy-workshops Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy

Episodes

  1. 2d ago ·  Video

    SuperTalks | The Truth About Belonging: Why Fitting In Is Costing Our Girls with Kara Kalin

    In this episode of SuperTalks, Lauren sits down with Kara Kalin for an honest conversation about one of the biggest challenges of the tween years: the pressure to fit in, and what it quietly costs our girls. Kara is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Certified EMDR Therapist and Founder of ShiftChange. Kara works closely with youth and their families, helping them understand what's really happening underneath the surface. As she puts it, when a child is struggling, the answer often isn't fixing her. It's understanding her. Together, we explore why the tween years can feel like such troubled waters. Friendships suddenly become everything, emotions feel bigger, and girls start adjusting who they are to be accepted. They unpack the difference between fitting in and belonging, how to spot when a girl is shrinking herself, and why so many of us learned to do the same thing as adults. We also talk about emotional safety: what it actually feels like for a child, and how parents can create it at home. That includes staying steady when your daughter pushes you away, supporting big feelings without rushing to fix them, and knowing how to repair when you get it wrong. Then we get practical. Kara walks through real scenarios parents face, from friends who won't sit with her and missed birthday invites to "I hate how I look" and "I hate you." She shares how to respond with curiosity, not lectures. Discover IRL Workshops:⁠ https://mysuperacademy.com/collections/superworkshops⁠ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy⁠ Follow Kara: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/karakalin.shiftchange/⁠

  2. Sep 13 ·  Video

    How Social Media Shapes Identity with Erin Sousa

    Who is teaching our kids who to be? In this episode of SuperTalks, Lauren sits down with entrepreneur, content creator and mom Erin Sousa for an honest conversation about social media, identity and what it means to raise kids in a world where they're constantly being shown what beauty, popularity, success and even happiness are supposed to look like. As someone who has built a career and community through social media, Erin knows firsthand the incredible opportunities these platforms can create, but becoming a mom has also made her think differently about what happens when kids enter these spaces before they understand how they're designed to influence them. Follow Erin: @erincsousa Together, Lauren and Erin unpack algorithms, comparison, filters, influencers, AI-generated content and the attention economy, including what parents may not realize is happening behind the screen. They also get practical about media literacy: teaching kids that popularity doesn't equal truth, recognizing when they're being influenced or sold to, questioning what's real and understanding that their attention has value. But this isn't a conversation about making social media the villain or scaring parents away from technology. It's about helping kids build a strong enough sense of identity that the outside world doesn't get to define it for them. Lauren and Erin share practical ways families can start doing that long before the first social media account, by building identity, creating a rich offline life, modelling healthy habits, keeping communication open and giving kids the tools to question what they see instead of simply absorbing it. Because we can't control everything our kids will see online. But we can strengthen the person who's doing the seeing. Join the SuperAcademy World and sign up to our newsletter: eepurl.com/jhcvEc Discover IRL Workshops: https://mysuperacademy.com/pages/superacademy-workshops Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy

    How Social Media Shapes Identity with Erin Sousa

About

Raising confident kids in a fast-changing world starts with better conversations. SuperTalks is a podcast by SuperAcademy for parents, educators, and anyone invested in helping young people thrive in the next decade. Hosted by Lauren, the series explores what kids really need right now - not just more confidence, but a stronger sense of identity, emotional regulation, self-awareness, communication, belonging, and purpose. Visit us to learn more: https://mysuperacademy.com/ Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy Through conversations with experts, leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers, SuperTalks looks at the future of childhood, leadership, AI, social media, friendship, and the human skills that will matter most. At the heart of every episode is one powerful question: what helps a young person discover who they are and what they're capable of? Because every child has a superpower. Our job is to help them see it. Join the SuperAcademy World and sign up to our newletter: eepurl.com/jhcvEc Discover IRL Workshops: https://mysuperacademy.com/pages/superacademy-workshops Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy