Some subjects make people look away. That’s why the toughest problems need the most energetic and committed people behind them. People like Brittni Kellom who works with survivors of child sexual abuse in Detroit or D Watkins who breaks down the social cost of racism in his best-selling books. Baltimore film maker Malaika Aminata Clements and trans leader Ava Pipitone chip in with tips on how you get people engaged with even the most challenging topics.

A good story can get you places. Take Muhammad Najeeullah who gets local kids into science and technology by running robot battles in portable drone zones, or Baltimore engineer Brittany Young who’s using dirt bike culture to generate young engineers. Amy Kaherl explains how she’s creating a tonne of engaging tales with her micro-granting dinner Detroit Soup, whilst poet Michelle Antoinette Nelson tells how she used a story to launch her business Brown + Healthy.

Getting people behind your idea is a must – and it not easy. Luckily, these good people know how. Meet the woman who went viral with her Nasty Woman t-shirt, an urban farmer repurposing the drug narrative to sell healthy greens and a Baltimore creative uplifting the youth. The head of basketball operations for NBA Africa and UCLA academic Gayle Northrup have something to add, too.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Who better to ask for tips on the early days than super-successful Omni founder Tom McLeod? Telling it from the grassroots we have Florida chef Chad Cherry who teaches cookery in food deserts, Jon Dengler who works alongside local homeless people on a collaborative earn-a-bike scheme and Marisa Hamamoto who used her experience of temporary paralysis to create inclusive dance company Infinite Flow.

Staying well is a tough one for all of us. That’s especially true for the good people using their talent and energy to deal with a problem in their corner of the world. Hip hop entrepreneur Shanti Das, best-selling author and Baltimore don D Watkins, Changa Bell of the Black Male Yoga Initiative, Lakota educator Ali Moran and an addictively likeable urban farmer turning vacant lots into flower farms explain how they do it.