2025: My Founder Year

Honestly? 2025 was a dream—and a revolution.

It was the year I built the learning ecosystem that is Quantum Mentors. And contrary to the norm, I'm not burnt out. Because I stayed weird, relational, experimental, and heart-forward all year long, nurturing the ideas and projects that were quietly taking root.

Like a love affair, I took daily stolen hours to romanticize every step toward building programs and networks for Quantum Mentors, a mission-driven project to “Redefine Education as Creativity and Wellness."

My vision for Pathfinder Learning grew in all kinds of directions—branching out like vines twisting toward the sun—sometimes in ways that didn’t make sense to anyone but me. And now, it's time to look back and count up my long list of firsts to celebrate:

• My first Music Mentor Membership Package for remote learners

• My first spring music workshop at Milo Farm in Kansas City, Missouri

• My first non-traditional art classroom within a public middle school

• My first internship in publishing at Press Pause Press

• My first Substack publication, a living, breathing manifesto for creative life that flirts with the cinematic, the hilarious, and the mythic all at once—a spirited haven for the underdogs

• My first TikTok Live, where the comments from middle school students looked like: "We still got beef because you put me in a group with Xavier," "Keep playing!" and "We need you"

• My first Christmas music workshop, attended primarily by the FYPA kiddos

Along the way, I also helped at the first local middle school Mental Health Day, recorded the first local middle school student-led ABC Podcast, performed in my first local middle school Christmas talent show, and chaperoned the first FYPA Christmas caroling on the square—all of which made the year feel even more alive with heart-led creative purpose.

Here's where my wins overlap with the broader learning ecosystem and nonprofit work. To promote Quantum Mentors’ first fundraiser, I interviewed with the Fairfield Journal and directed commercials with each board member—my first acts as fearless leader.

More milestones to cheer for:

• Our first Pathfinder Lab community server on Discord

• Our first YouTube channel for mentor podcasts and other Music Mentor adventures

• Our first Pathfinder Party—now a regular group call for the Pathfinder community

• Our first Pathfinder Play Date—now a format for 1-on-1 Pathfinder learning

• Our first Pathfinder Studio Challenge with a remote leaderboard for recording artists

Looking ahead, 2026 is shaping up to be just as show-stopping! Launching:

• Our first Pathfinder Learning homeschool classroom this spring semester.

• Our first Mentor Workshop for rising mentors to collaborate on projects and prompts

• Our first Pathfinder Field Trip for local or remote learning expeditions

• Our first weekly summer reading workshop at the local Fairfield Public Library to facilitate the Pathfinder Studio Challenge, where kiddos can record audiobooks, podcasts, and voice acting—and get badges for their time spent

• Our first Pathfinder Learning Summit—where mentors introduce themselves, share prompts, and invite us into their creative process

We’re also looking forward to developing partnership with the FYPA, Fairfield Youth Performing Arts, so let's raise a glass to doing more good in 2026 for education and mental health through community and the arts.

Here’s to doing it bigger, bolder, and weirder in 2026!