Maya Higa has become the first Twitch streamer to give a main-stage TED talk after discussing her work with Alveus Sanctuary
The crowd gave her a standing ovation
Ilia Malinin 🇺🇸 156.33 / 264.49
“Well, putting all the negatives aside, the atmosphere was really incredible. The support — honestly, even with that skate — the crowd never stopped cheering. They were supporting me the whole time, and that really meant a lot.”
On the pressure and the difficult moment:
“Honestly, the support is very special. In this sport, you have the privilege of being not only an athlete, but also an artist. But with that comes a lot of pressure — the expectations, the media, everything around it.
On What caused the problems?
“I’ve kind of said it already. It’s not a pleasant feeling, and I’m still trying to understand exactly what happened. But it’s done. I can’t change the outcome. Of course, a lot of people would go back and change it if they could. My life has had a lot of ups and downs, and in that moment, everything just felt very overwhelming. I honestly didn’t know how to handle it.”
On whether missing the quad Axel started the unraveling:
“I wouldn’t say it necessarily threw me off. I knew I didn’t need a perfect program. I still could have had a really good skate. But then more mistakes happened. I don’t know exactly what it was specifically — I’m still trying to understand. So I don’t really have a clear answer yet.”
On congratulating Mikhail Shaidorov:
“I actually went up to him and congratulated him. I watched him skate from the locker room, and I’m just so proud of him. I heard he didn’t have the best season. We’re all in this sport together, and we’re there for each other. That’s what makes this sport special.
I think people forget that sometimes. They only see us competing and assume we’re rivals without good relationships. But it’s actually the opposite. There’s joy, motivation, encouragement — we’re like a big family.”
#FigureSkating #MilanoCortina2026 #Olympics #WinterOlympics
A Gen Z joined the team.
Week one.
During onboarding, the manager said,
“We sometimes stay late during peak periods.”
Gen Z nodded.
Then asked,
“Is that paid… or just expected?”
The room went quiet.
- No attitude.
- No rebellion.
- Just a question.
Later that day, HR mentioned “growth opportunities.”
Gen Z replied,
“Does growth include raises, or just more responsibility?”
Again, silence.
- No laziness.
- No entitlement.
- Just clarity.
That’s when the team realized something.
When people say
“Gen Z is lazy,”
what they really mean is:
Gen Z watched old generation
- skip meals,
- miss birthdays,
- work weekends,
- and burn out
only to be told
“budgets are tight”
and “be grateful you have a job.”
So Gen Z chose differently.
- They don’t romanticize overwork.
- They don’t confuse suffering with ambition.
- They don’t trade health for praise.
They still work hard.
They just refuse to work for nothing.
It’s not laziness.
It’s pattern recognition.
And honestly,
after everything old generation went through…
Can you really blame them?
Michelle Obama:
“Don't even look at me about running, because you all are lying. You're not ready for a woman. So don't waste my time. We got a lot of growing up to do.”
Streamer Maya Higa raised $1 million in just three days for the Alveus Research & Recovery Institute
The funds will help conserve the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf and red wolf species
We are so excited to officially announce the Alveus Breeding & Recovery Center!
We’ll be expanding to accommodate for Mexican Gray wolves and Red wolves over the next year.
We can’t thank you all enough for all the support to get us to this point 💚
https://t.co/Qo9YkfJ1Um
Yesterday we announced the Alveus Research & Recovery Institute (ARRI). Today we have reached over 50% of our capital campaign fundraising goal of $1M.😭🐺
Thank you for believing in me since the beginning. Thank you for watching and listening and learning. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to save species. Thank you thank you thank you.
a therapist on tiktok said…. “no one notices your sadness until it turns into anger, and then you're the problem. healing is realizing you became the angry person because no one saw your sadness first” felt that.
Heartwarming: Randy Moss said he was taking a leave of absence at ESPN in In December announcing that he was battling cancer.
This morning Moss finally rejoined ESPN's NFL Countdown crew at the Super Bowl.
A very emotional moment ❤️🥹