THE STORIES
Meet the people behind the moments that changed everything.
Every life has a moment that changes its direction.
Meet the people joining This Is Who We Become to share what happened, what came after, and who they became along the way.
DR. CRISTINA THOMAS
Planetary Scientist • NASA DART Mission
THE SCIENTIST WHO HELPED HUMANITY MOVE AN ASTEROID.
LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ
Author • Poet • Former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles
FINDING HOME WITHIN YOURSELF.
ANGELA HARGER THOMPSON
Author • Survivor • Actor • Producer • Advocate
RECLAIMING YOUR STORY AFTER TRAUMA
DR. JACQUELINE BUSSIE
Author • Theologian • Speaker
WHEN THE LIFE YOU IMAGINED DISAPPEARS.
DR. HOWARD WEINER
Physician • Researcher • Innovator
WHAT IF WE COULD TEACH THE BODY TO FIGHT ALZHEIMER’S?
Dr. Cristina Thomas is an astronomer and planetary scientist whose work helped answer a question once reserved for science fiction: could humanity intentionally change the motion of an asteroid?
As leader of the Observations Working Group for NASA’s historic DART mission, Cristina and her team helped establish the orbit of Dimorphos before NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into it - and then measured how that orbit changed afterward.
On This Is Who We Become, Cristina takes us inside the years of work leading to that extraordinary moment, what it was like watching DART collide with an asteroid millions of miles from Earth, and what the mission taught us about planetary defense, scientific discovery, and what human beings can accomplish together.
STORY COMING SOON
Luis J. Rodriguez is n award-winning poet, bestselling author, and former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles whose extraordinary journey began in a world shaped by poverty, gang violence, addiction, and the search for belonging.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Luis became involved in gang life at a young age. But through writing, activism, and a determination to forge a different future, he began transforming his life. He would eventually become the acclaimed author of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., using his experiences to help others find hope and possibility.
On This Is Who We Become, Luis reflects on the experiences that shaped him, the difficult journey toward healing, and what it means to truly belong. In one particularly moving moment, he explores the idea that home isn’t always a place we find in the world around us. Sometimes, it’s something we discover within ourselves.
STORY COMING SOON
Angela Harger Thompson is a survivor whose life was profoundly changed by sexual violence. Her journey is one of navigating the aftermath of trauma, confronting its lasting effects, and finding the courage to reclaim her own story.
For survivors, healing is rarely a straight line. It can mean learning to trust again, rediscovering a sense of safety, and understanding that what happened to you does not define your worth or determine your future.
On This Is Who We Become, Angela shares her deeply personal experience, the challenges of moving forward after trauma, and what it means to rediscover your voice and sense of self. Her story offers an intimate look at resilience, healing, and the possibility of becoming more than what we’ve endured.
STORY COMING SOON
Dr. Jacqueline Bussie is an award-winning author and theologian whose work explores faith, hope, love, and the courage to embrace life’s most difficult questions. But her understanding of these subjects would become profoundly personal when her husband died suddenly during an anniversary trip to Iceland.
In an instant, the future she had imagined was gone. What followed was a journey through grief, loss, and the difficult process of learning how to live in a world that had been irrevocably changed.
On This Is Who We Become, Jacqueline reflects on love, the devastating experience of losing her husband, and what grief reveals about our humanity. Her story explores what happens when the beliefs and assumptions that once sustained us are tested by unimaginable loss, and how we begin to find meaning when life no longer looks anything like we expected.
STORY COMING SOON
For decades, Dr. Howard Weiner has been at the forefront of neurological research, challenging conventional thinking about some of the most devastating diseases affecting the human brain. A professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and a pioneering researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Weiner has helped transform our understanding of multiple sclerosis, the immune system, and the relationship between inflammation and neurological disease.
But perhaps some of his most fascinating work involves the question that once seemed almost unimaginable: What if we could harness the body’s own immune system to fight Alzheimer’s disease?
Weiner and his colleagues have spent decades developing experimental approaches to treating neurological diseases, including innovative nasal vaccines and immunotherapies designed to influence the immune system’s response to Alzheimer’s. In 2026, his research team published encouraging early clinical trial findings involving an experimental nasal treatment that could help open new avenues for fighting a disease that has devastated millions of families worldwide.
On This Is Who We Become, Howard takes us inside the world of scientific discovery, exploring the extraordinary possibilities of the human brain, the decades of research behind experimental Alzheimer’s treatments, and what it means to dedicate a lifetime to pursuing breakthroughs that could change countless lives.
His story is one of curiosity, persistence, and the remarkable possibility that some of medicine’s greatest discoveries may still lie ahead.
STORY COMING SOON