Path altering updates in 2026

Big updates from me to kick-off 2026...

In my 20-year PR and marketing career i’ve worked for some of the biggest brands in the world — Disney, Taco Bell, KFC — but none bigger or more important than my own.

It’s the only brand I’m guaranteed a life-time contract. For better or for worse, it’s mine and mine alone. But, like many, the pandemic shifted something in me that questioned my brand loyalty. Not for the corporations’, but for my own.

That feeling was only amplified when I started teaching in 2022 at Chapman University. As an adjunct professor, it was my side-hustle, but in my heart it became my front and center. To see Gen Z up-close and personal week over week made me a better marketer, and being in the industry for nearly 20 years made me a better educator. I was gaining momentum, I was gaining clarity — this is what I was made to do.

So, in 2024 I developed a new experimental course called 'Finding Your Path.' It combined my passion for building brands with my love for mentorship all in the name of battling personal branding challenges in the modern era. At the core of the course was the methodology I created called PATH, made up of four pillars built for personal clarity: [P]urpose, [A]rchitecture, [T]rajectory and [H]abits. When aligned, they uncover not just your true personal brand, but a foundational compass to guide every step of your journey.

It quickly became one of the most popular classes on campus.

When i'd tell people about the course, regardless of generation, I'd hear it time and time again, "can I take this class!?" So, I set out to build a place accessible to all, full of resources, tools and coaching to help people answer the very important and powerful question we've all asked, "Am I on the right path?"

It’s called The Path Project.

Personalized resources and assessments to help people uncover exactly where they're meant to be, including tools i’ve created like:

🎯 The Pathway Assessment: to pinpoint where you are in your current journey.

💎 The PATH Values Finder: Discover and rank all 20 values to better understand what drives you and where you’re misaligned.

🎠 The Values Carousel: Explore trade-offs with the changing seasons of life.

🗺️ Mentor Mapping: Analyze career paths of those you admire alongside your own goals to discover patterns and gaps.

🌱 #ForYouPath: And of course, continuing to build out this community of resources dedicated to Gen Z students and young professionals.

As patient zero with this work, it’s caused me to take significant changes in my own path…

In building and growing The Path Project I’ll officially be moving my side-hustle to it’s rightful place front and center. I’ll continue to teach (hopefully more) and I’ll finally take the big leap… shifting my full-time corporate work to consulting and advising. More speaking, more writing, more building, more mentoring, more… me.

- Matt