4 Teen Girls Are Turning Plastic Waste Into Disaster-Proof Homes ft. Rebuild & Brixley I Episode 141

What if the plastic waste filling up our landfills could rebuild homes after a disaster? 🧱 In episode 141 of Raq The Boat, I sit down with Dhriti, Ananya, Jeslyn, and Naviya — four rising seniors at Round Rock High School in Austin, Texas, and co-founders of Rebuild, the company behind Brixley: interlocking bricks made from plastic waste and natural fibers, designed to help communities rebuild quickly and sustainably after natural disasters. What started as a Conrad Challenge project turned into a real, for-profit business with a B2B model — selling to construction companies who can then partner with nonprofits on disaster relief. These four split the work across engineering, business, and analytics, and they're proof that you don't need to wait until college to start solving real-world problems. But this conversation goes way beyond the business. We get into their hobbies (Legos, circuit building, robotics — yes, really), the family members who inspire them most, the pressure they feel balancing academics with everything else, and their honest, slightly worried take on what AI means for their generation and the ones coming up behind them. In this episode we cover: 🧱 How Brixley turns plastic waste into bricks that help rebuild homes after disasters 💼 Why they chose a for-profit B2B model instead of starting a nonprofit 🎓 Their diverse paths — engineering, business analytics, and everything in between 🤖 Gen Z's real concerns about AI taking over jobs and creative fields 👨‍👩‍👧 The family members who inspire them most and why ⚖️ Balancing academic pressure, extracurriculars, and self-care 🌍 How social media is connecting Gen Z across countries and cultures 🔮 What Gen Z thinks Gen Alpha's tech-immersed childhood means for the future These four aren't waiting for someone else to solve the problem. They're building the solution themselves. 🎙️ Raq The Boat is hosted by Raquel Borras — youth advocate, documentary filmmaker, and founder of Raqvision LLC. This show amplifies the voices of young people ages 9–17 who are out here doing big things. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode 👍 Like this video if it inspired you