Integrity

Tejasvi Manoj: TIME's 2025 Kid of the Year

At just 17, and with personal experience to motivate her, youth changemaker Tejasvi Manoj built an educational website to teach seniors about cybercrime — Shield Seniors. Here, seniors can learn how to identify scams, analyze and report them. She's a TIME for Kids Service Star and has earned TIME's 2025 Kid of the Year recognition for her inspirational work.

Helping seniors recognize online threats

Tejasvi Manoj, TIME's 2025 Kid of the Year, made possible by The Allstate Foundation, is on a mission to transform how older adults navigate the digital world: with confidence and independence. Her website, Shield Seniors, educates them on cybercrime to reduce their vulnerability to online threats and exploitation.

In 2024, Tejasvi's grandfather almost lost $2,000 from a fraudulent email he didn't realize was a scam, sparking Tejasvi's extensive research on the rise in digital threats against seniors.

Elder fraud, targeting people over the age of 60, accounted for nearly $5 billion in potential losses in 2024 alone.

"But this isn't just data. These are real people," Tejasvi said.

Did you know? Allstate Identity Protection has an Elder Fraud Center that helps older adults recover from identity theft and fraud.

Building shields and digital bridges for older adults

Within a year after the incident with her grandfather, and with her tech-savvy family members and neighbors as mentors, Tejasvi built and launched Shield Seniors to bridge the digital literacy gap for older adults.

Created for users ages 55+, the website educates them on what online scams and digital threats look like, how to analyze them, and how and where to report them.

The platform is divided into four sections:

• Learn: A beginner's course in internet security basics like strong passwords, privacy settings and recognizing scams.
• Ask: A chatbot that generates simple, concise answers to cybersecurity questions for older users.
• Analyze: An AI-powered tool that reviews suspicious messages and explains why they may be fraudulent.
• Report: Links to more than two dozen trusted organizations like the FBI, AARP, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to report fraud.

Shield Seniors is currently in private preview, but Tejasvi's goal is to support broader access once she secures funding to transition to a commercial AI platform.

A shining star for youth service

Tejasvi's recognition as TIME Kid of the Year is also a celebration of her role as a Service Star, part of the Foundation's youth empowerment initiative in partnership with TIME for Kids.

The Service Stars program provides free resources to kids as young as five years old to help them serve their communities — inspiring them to make positive change.

Each Service Stars issue of TIME for Kids features missions to inspire all kids and highlights young leaders like Tejasvi, demonstrating that age is no barrier to creating change. Her story is featured in the TIME for Kids Service Stars special issue, reaching classrooms and communities across the country.

The Foundation is also supporting Tejasvi's service journey by providing her with resources and opportunities to expand her work.

Inspiring youth to serve

Tejasvi's work embodies the Foundation's mission to empower youth to serve and improve communities.

With a combination of compassion, commitment and of course, coding skills, she's helping older adults stay safe online and creating an example for a generation of young leaders to follow.

"The biggest self-fulfillment you can give yourself is helping others…I just love helping people and knowing that I've made a difference," she said.