Whitney Pastorek

Scouring Africa For Impactful Projects To Turn Into Beautiful Movies

What Took You So Long is a guerrilla video studio that travels around Africa, making beautiful movies about people driving change on the continent. Oh, and camels. Lots of camels.

The Hall Pass Tour Brings Music And Empowerment To Kids Who Need It

Everybody loves music. Not everybody loves learning–or at least, they might not think they do. That’s why this national tour of concerts at schools seeks to use musical performances (by the kids themselves) to teach kids from underprivileged backgrounds that they, too, can succeed.

How To Save The World From The Comfort Of Your Toilet

Lack of sanitation is a serious and deadly problem for much of the world. Who Gives A Crap is a toilet paper that uses what you take for granted–a working bathroom–and helps convert that to sanitation aid around the world.

Empowering Young Women By Teaching Them To Be The Next Tech Genius

Girls Who Code takes New Yorkers who might otherwise not think that math and science and computers are for them and gives them the know-how and desire to compete for high-tech jobs.

Got A Talent? Raise5 Lets You Use It To Raise Money For Causes

Now you can volunteer your time instead of your cash. Instead of just giving $5 to your favorite organization, what if you could get something valuable and creative in return? Raise5 lets people sell their own items and then helps them give the proceeds away.

Create A Product With Emotion, By Giving Customers The Power Of Customization

Each one of Caseable’s laptop cases are unique, because you can make it your own down to the color of the zipper. Do we connect more with products we have made ourselves?

Changing How We Sell Things, To Make Companies More Successful

Elastic Inc. combines technology and old-fashioned salesmanship to boost its clients’ bottom line. The trick is harder than it sounds: Only sell things you’re passionate about.

Creating A Job Market For The Most Fulfilling Jobs

Sure, there aren’t too many jobs these days, but ReWork still wants to make sure people aren’t toiling away at work they hate. Their job matching network is connecting passionate workers with the companies that need them.

Making Medical Care Affordable In Developing Countries, With Help From The Crowd

Medical care is never cheap, and it’s an especially big burden in developing countries. Watsi harnesses the crowd to change that.

The Internet’s Youngest Rap Stars Love Snacks, Now Have A Future

The viral hit “Hot Cheetos and Takis,” is the work of a Minneapolis after-school program that’s giving kids a musical path out of their bad neighborhood.

Young Entrepreneurs Find A Use For Wasted Food: Feeding The Hungry

FlashFood–a finalist in the Imagine Cup–pairs restaurants’ extra food with people in need, all through a simple SMS-based service.

Love Hope Strength Lollapalooza: Crowdfinding Bone Marrow Donors

Meet The Woman Who Can Convince Even Republicans To Use Solar Power

Sunrun’s Lynn Jurich helped create a new industry–selling solar instead of as an expensive home improvement. The results have been nothing short of mind-blowing, and the people who are buying in are not who you would think.

ClassConnect: A Platform To Make The Best Lessons Open To Everyone

Eric Simons made a name for himself by squatting in AOL’s headquarters to save money while he worked on ClassConnect. Now that it’s in the wild, he can afford a place of his own: His software is revolutionizing the classroom and the way kids can learn.

Taking Street Art From The Street To Gallery (And Getting Kids Paid)

Massive Health Is Going To Use Your Cell Phone To Keep You Healthy

The health app startup is attempting to use technology to make you better understand what your body is saying to you. In the future, founder Aza Raskin hopes your phone will tell you you’re getting sick before you even know it.

Meet The 15-Year-Old Who Is Changing How We Test For Cancer

By day, Jack Andraka appears to be a normal high school student. But after school, he goes to the lab at Johns Hopkins, where he’s developing a test for pancreatic cancer that is worlds better than what’s currently available. You may have read about him before, now see him talk about his breakthrough.

Wake The Beast Is Bringing The Funny To Political Discourse

The Los Angeles organization wants to do away with dreadful videos about important issues and instead make pieces of political content that people actually want to watch and share.

Skateboarder Ryan Sheckler Makes Giving Back Extreme

It’s not all ollies and kickflips for this pro skater. He’s using his big fan base to help crowdsource and fund community- changing projects.