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Frisco teen Tejasvi Manoj named TIME’s 2025 kid of the year
Seventeen-year-old Manoj is recognized for creating Shield Seniors, a digital tool to protect seniors from online scams.
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Malvika Choudhary - Wed, 10, Sep 2025
- 12:33 EDT
- 42
Tejasvi Manoj / TIME.com
TIME magazine has named Indian American teenager Tejasvi Manoj as the 2025 Kid of the Year, recognizing her work in promoting digital literacy and protecting seniors from cybercrime.
Seventeen-year-old Manoj, from Frisco, Texas, created Shield Seniors, a website and soon-to-launch mobile app designed to educate seniors about online fraud, analyze suspicious emails and messages, and connect victims with reporting agencies.
Also Read: 5 Indian-origin innovators in annual TIME’s 100 AI list
The initiative was inspired after her grandfather nearly fell victim to a scam in February 2024. “I started volunteering in sixth grade,” Manoj told TIME. “I think it’s really important; if you’re lucky yourself, you want to make sure other people feel loved and lucky too. It just makes me feel really happy, knowing that I can make a difference.”
Her project has already earned recognition, including an honorable mention in the Congressional App Challenge and a TEDx talk in Plano, Texas. Local retirement and senior communities have also partnered with her to host workshops on safe internet practices.
“Our goal for Shield Seniors is to make sure older adults are independent and know what to look for,” she explained. “We want to make sure they’re able to navigate the online world confidently, with independence, and with dignity.”
The urgency of her work is underscored by federal data. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Americans aged 60 and older lost more than $4.7 billion to cyber fraud in 2023, a 14 percent increase from the previous year.
Seniors lost nearly $5 billion in 2024 alone, making cyber fraud one of the fastest-growing categories of financial crime in the United States.
Born in California and raised in Dallas, Manoj discovered her passion for coding in middle school after joining Girls Who Code. Both of her parents work as software engineers, a background she credits for nurturing her interest in technology.
She has said she hopes to pursue higher education in computer science, focusing on artificial intelligence or cybersecurity, to expand the scope of her work.
Manoj joins past honorees such as scientist Gitanjali Rao and environmental activist Orion Jean, continuing a tradition of celebrating young innovators.
The 2025 Kid of the Year issue is available on time.com and will appear in the Sept. 29 edition of TIME, on newsstands Sept. 19. It will also feature in the TIME for Kids Service Stars special issue beginning Sept. 25.
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