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Long before the pandemic, back in 2009, Benita Cooper, noticed a problem when she moved to Philadelphia. Social isolation. She had an idea, inspired by a recent personal experience, that she thought could help. So she began a small project at lunchtime to tap into the power of storytelling. You'll find her story and her not-for-profit organization The Best Day of My Life So Far inspiring.

Want to make a difference? See the links below for info on how you can connect the programs at The Best Day of My Life So Far with your community, school, organization, company or business, There's a range of options from Lunch & Learns to Pop Up events to starting your own storytelling group.

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Bio
Benita Cooper is an award-winning Registered Architect in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. She holds an MArch from Harvard University and a BA in Art and a BA in Architecture from the University of Washington. Driven to build and lead from a young age, she entered college at the age of 15, after moving from Hong Kong at 12.

Benita has received prestigious awards from the American Institute of Architects, the American Architectural Foundation, Harvard University and may more. Her work has been awarded first place by the American Society of Internal Designers.

Inspired by her friendship with her grandma, Benita Cooper launched The Best Day of My Life So Far a multimedia storytelling project to connect seniors with younger generations in 2009. It provides a cure for social isolation, by empowering older adults to share life stories and inspiring human connection across generational and social divides. In 2020, in response to the global pandemic, the not-for-profit expanded all of it's programs to include more robust virtual options, and is well-positioned to take it's work into the future.

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For More On Benita Cooper

The Best Day of My Life So Far

Programs - Get Involved

Benita Cooper Design

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Retire Smarter. Don’t Miss an Episode – Follow on Apple Podcasts or

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Changing the World One Small Act at a Time – Brad Aronson

How Seniors Are Saving the World With Activism – Thelma Reese

The Exciting Potential of Intergenerational Mentoring – Charlotte Japp

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Wise Quotes

On Storytelling

"I knew from the very, very first call with my grandma that stories could do what years of conversation could not. Stories could bring generations together. Stories brought my grandma and me together with one single phone call, one single story,  Over time, with more calls and more stories, we became even closer. We became best friends. So stories are the building blocks to real communication. Real communication is a building block to real relationships. And real relationship, if enough people are doing it around you, is the building block to real community. And all of this is significantly more powerful when the story storytelling is shared between generations."

On Life Lessons

"Every story contains sometimes not just one, but multiple life lessons. All of those things could be unexpected. You might not expect, if you're someone younger,  that somebody older would be so open-minded about whatever social issue is happening at the moment. And when you're someone older, likewise, you might not expect that somebody younger would be open to your way of thinking. Or that they would find you funny. If you're someone older and you tell somebody younger or something sad, you might be surprised by the confidence they see in you, which you never knew you had. So that story that's within every story,