Houston Kraft has spent the last two decades cultivating kindness in schools. In 2016, he co-founded CharacterStrong, which today serves over 10,000 schools across 50 states and 49 countries with evidence-based curriculum and training. He has spoken at more than 700 campuses and events, wrote Deep Kindness (2020) and Be Kind (2023), and you may recognize the lower half of his face from his appearance on Lay's BBQ chip bags as someone who helps "spread smiles." His message through the years has remained simple: Kindness is the foundational behavior of successful schools. He has been featured on “Good Morning America,” CNN, Hallmark, and more as an expert on developing a more empathetic, kind world. His biggest influence remains his mom, whose best life lesson is to "hug like you mean it.”