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Founded by Miriam D. Rivera · Indiana

Break the
stigma
out loud.

Art, fashion and lived experience that make mental illness and addiction sayable — and put a portion of every sale into a scholarship for students who grew up inside it.

Miriam D. Rivera wearing one of her winged-guitar designs

Miriam D. Rivera — founder and speaker

Swag & merch

Wearable art with something to say

Our Collection This Year Is, “Healing Through Music.” 🎶💚

Roses, wings and music notes on shirts, aprons, tumblers and bracelets. It is not generic merch: every piece is a sentence someone else can read across a room.

All products
MJ Piano Keys Tee WhiteShirts

MJ Piano Keys Tee White

$25

A keyboard mid-run, notes coming off it.

MJ Piano Keys Tee BlackShirts

MJ Piano Keys Tee Black

$25

The same keyboard, inverted.

Mental Health ApronAprons

Mental Health Apron

$25

Red, black or blue. Built for people who feed a crowd.

Mental Health BraceletBracelets

Mental Health Bracelet

$5

Hope. Courage. Fight. Five dollars, worn every day.

Worn across Indiana

Three family members wearing Master Chef aprons
Two people in winged-guitar tees
A supporter wearing the winged-guitar tee
An older woman at home in a winged-guitar tee
The Rock Out for Mental Health vendor booth at a community event
A supporter in a red apron at the grill
A young person wearing a Stay Well tee
A supporter in an apron holding kitchen utensils
Studio shot of the winged-guitar tee

The promise behind every product

A portion of all proceeds goes into the William Rivera Memorial Scholarship Fund.

$600

Award

1

Student funded

Open to high school, college and trade students who have a parent diagnosed with a mental illness or a substance use disorder.

Studio headshot of Miriam D. Rivera

Speaking engagements

Miriam dr. Speaks

Positivity in Practice. Mental Health in Focus.

Miriam talks to students about mental illness and substance use the way almost no one does — as the family member, not the textbook.

Lived experience
Miriam speaks as a daughter, about what mental illness and addiction actually look like inside a home. Students recognize it immediately.
Child welfare background
Years of work in Indiana child welfare shape how she talks to young people, and to the adults responsible for them.
She built something with it
The talk is not where it ends. Miriam turned the same story into a company, a clothing line and a scholarship that has already paid a student's way — students can see the difference between advice and evidence.

Now booking first engagements for the 2026–27 school year.

Education

How addiction happens

Start here. One video, made by a mother who lost her son to substance use, for families trying to understand what they are looking at.

Addiction is not a character flaw
It changes how the brain values reward, risk and relief. Understanding the mechanism is what makes it possible to respond instead of blame.
Stigma is the reason people wait
Most families lose time to shame before they lose it to the illness. Naming it plainly is the first intervention.
Families need scripts, not slogans
What to say, who to call, what to expect. That is the gap this material is built to close.
Go to the lesson

Video plays from YouTube. Nothing loads until you press play.

Scholarship

The William Rivera Memorial Scholarship Fund

The fund exists so that a student whose parent lives with mental illness or substance use disorder does not lose their education to it too.

$600

Award amount

Paid toward tuition or documented educational expenses.

1

Student funded so far

Every product sold moves the next one closer.

Who qualifies

  • Currently enrolled or accepted at a high school, college, university or trade program
  • Has a parent diagnosed with a mental illness or a substance use disorder
  • Applying toward tuition or documented educational expenses

Named for Miriam’s father, William. The requirement is deliberate: this is the one thing on a student’s life that never shows up on a transcript, and almost never on a scholarship form either.

Indianapolis Urban League

Proud supporting partner

Stay Inspired Knowledge Is Power is proud to count the Indianapolis Urban League among its supporting partners.

“Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.”

Proverbs 3:13