She's only small, but Molly Wright has something big to say — and tens of millions of people around the world have listened, making the Gold Coast eight-year-old's TED Talk the most popular of 2021.
Molly was just seven at the time her talk — Thrive by Five — was recorded, making her the youngest person to present in TED's history.
Since July 2021, Molly's presentation about how parents and carers can better connect with children under five, has been viewed more than 4.8 million times on the TED website and has more than 50 million views across social media.
Molly beat some big names, including American activist and poet Amanda Gorman, author Adam Grant, psychology professor Yuko Munakata and neuroscientist Lisa Genova, to take out the top spot for the year.
'It hasn't sunk in yet'
TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity, with subtitles in more than 100 languages.
Australian philanthropic group, the Minderoo Foundation, commissioned Molly's talk, which addresses ways for adults to engage with, and create meaningful connections with, young children as their brains are developing.
One key piece of advice for parents is to put down your phone and actually interact with your child.
Molly's mum, Ally Wright, said she could hardly believe the news.
"We had to check it and then check it again," Ms Wright said.
"Someone had tagged us in it on Instagram, and lo and behold, Molly was there, number one.
Translated into 33 languages
Ms Wright said she and Molly had received responses from people all over the world, who said Molly's talk and resonated with them.
"One of the main things that people have picked up on is the device thing, even though that was touched on in one sentence in the talk," Ms Wright said.
The talk was directed by Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, and is supported by UNICEF.
It has been translated into 33 languages.
After wrapping up 2021 on such a high, Molly already has her sights set on next year.
