What does it take to build resilience when the world isn’t built for you?
In this episode of The Caring Economy, host Toby Usnik sits down with veteran journalist and NewsNation anchor Leland “Lucky” Vittert to talk about his deeply personal new memoir, Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism.
This is not a conversation about labels or diagnoses. It’s a conversation about parenting, perseverance, character, and what happens when a parent refuses to give up on a child. Lucky shares stories from his childhood growing up with autism, including bullying, isolation, and the intensive “training sessions” his father designed to help him navigate a world that wouldn’t bend for him.
Together, they explore what resilience really looks like, why adversity can’t be edited out of life, and how discipline, love, and accountability shaped Lucky’s path from a misunderstood kid to a national news anchor reporting from conflict zones around the world.
At a moment when conversations about neurodiversity, mental health, parenting, and polarization are front and center, this episode offers something rare: honesty without victimhood, and hope without platitudes.
