Pasco County teen advocates for mental health on her podcast

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A screen capture portrait of podcaster Eliza Smith

Video story produced and reported by Emma Franz. The anchor is Leali Shalabi.

A 16-year-old from Land O’ Lakes is hosting a podcast that takes a serious look at mental health today.

Eliza Smith hosts the “Be Bold, Be Beautiful, Be You” podcast.

“I have so many friends who deal with anxiety, depression, and ADHD and other illnesses that I felt nobody really talks about enough so I wanted to bring awareness to the community,” Smith said.

The former Miss Land O’ Lakes Teen USA is a champion for mental health on her podcast. She features diverse voices to show that mental health looks different for everyone.

“Because of Covid, I wanted to kind of open up a platform where people can share what they’re going through and just be open and honest,” she said.

According to a CDC survey last year, 63 percent of young adults experienced significant symptoms of anxiety or depression.

The podcast is available for streaming on the Anchor service.

Published by Wayne Garcia

Wayne Garcia is an award-winning journalist and educator, working in Florida newspapers, colleges and political campaigns for 30 years. He is a senior instructor and former director of Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications. His background is in political and investigative journalism. Garcia teaches courses in Mass Communications and Society, Beginning Reporting, Advanced Reporting, the Future of Journalism, Editing I, and Writing for the Mass Media. As a journalist, he worked for the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune and Gainesville Sun daily newspapers. During his tenure as the political editor for the alt-weekly Creative Loafing, Garcia won two Sunshine State Awards for his political writing and his widely read political blog. He was the 2009 recipient of the Irene Miller Vigilance in Journalism Award from the Pinellas Chapter of the ACLU. He is a past executive director of the Florida Scholastic Press Association, the leading advocacy group for high school journalists in the state. As a political consultant for nine years, he ran or was part of more than 100 campaigns in the state of Florida. A native of Scotch Plains, N.J., who grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Garcia is a Florida Gator and a USF Bull, having earned his master’s degree from USF St. Petersburg.