Written by, Vanessa Cole

October 7, 2025 (updated July 2026)

As long time talent, creative & nonprofit professionals--- and as parents now supporting our two young-adult children pursue their dreams--- my husband, Chad, and I cofounded the AddyPres Organization in 2014. We were driven to establish our organization through our children's journey's through life and education and have continued to evolve its offerings based on all of our unique lived experiences. WE CARE ABOUT the talent, creative, entertainment & athletic industries we built our lives around and the opportunity for young people to chase passionate pursuits. We care about the welfare & prosperity of the people who work within these industries, the vitality of the pipeline that feeds into them, and the commerce infrastructure that supports these multi-billion dollar economic ecosystems. These are the industries where people's ideas entertain, engage, dress, move and inspire all of society.

During the foundational era of building our organization between 2014-2021, our family invested in thousands of hours of research and development, which we made a large part of our family life, participating in and trialing program models, curriculum, resources and frameworks I authored, while volunteering, connecting with leaders, organizations and community & commerce members--further developing our tools, conducting surveys, sharing and writing articles, hosting community events and growing our organization's offerings. We shared what we were learning, discovering and developing along the way because it was important to us that parents & community members would be uplifted through their awareness and participation in transformations that were being led to take place in our schools, communities and across commerce infrastructures. We respected our responsibility as trustees over this awareness, during an era we could feel was leaning into extreme directions and we wanting to be a source of balanced perspective that would honor the sanctity of the tether to all things that is rooted in education, community & family. The work we committed ourselves to then and continue to accomplish today has always been led through our hearts as parents and our passion as entrepreneurs with the intent that our commitments would prompt kindness, stewardship & curiosity in young people... and thereby the grown ups they would become.

In 2020, when a global pandemic shut the world down--- our organization and our life was dramatically disrupted. It had already been a grueling 6 years of organizational and personal investment for our family as we worked toward our full organizational offerings, when mass industry closures meant we were headed into uncharted waters. The research, development, family brand, program models, tools, resources and networks we developed between 2014-2020 had required every financial and emotional investment our family could offer and brought forward a substantial breadth of intellectual property-- all trialed pieces of a larger puzzle we were working diligently to offer the public through a strategy & infrastructure plan we knew could update education models effectively toward the 21st century, end unemployment & drive long term prosperity for all Americans--

But as the pandemic unfolded, and our investments hadn't yet come to full fruition, our family had to face an uncomfortable reality that economic uncertainties were going to force a devastating hand... Industry shut downs and vaccine mandates to work prompted us to store all of our belongings and temporarily move to a family member's rental property about two hours away, with only a few stuffed animals and art supplies to serve as childhood comforts from home while we waited out an unknown. At the time, as creative entrepreneurs, we were building a business with purpose and operated our nonprofit efforts through our own investments, while seeking higher level support to fully realize the unique for profit/nonprofit business model that would bring forward the revolutionary education-to-career lifecycle management system & smart technology I authored. My husband's modeling and talent career, which offered a middle class lifestyle, was our main source of organizational support, while we sought grants and commerce partnerships to grow our value-based business... therefore, when the catastrophic event prompted shut downs, halting his ability to work, the impact was felt by both our family and our organization, almost over night.

Closures & mandates grew their impact as I accepted the moments & the reality of the circumstances, choosing to be present with our family and explore career opportunities that would allow me to continue my dedication to bring our solution forward, while still offering support our family now required. I took courses that career descriptions called for and the years of work I had accomplished as an entrepreneurial leader gave me a unique and relevant vantage point on industry happenings. I remember the experience felt ironic, as I connected with leaders to inquire about possible employment while also discussing the possibilities of the blueprint that had required so many years of development and perseverance to reach such a milestone-- ironic because I had stepped into a scenario that the plan I was holding would offer the opportunity for others not to have to endure.

I pulled from each of our mishaps in real time and added to what we had already worked to develop, to evolve functions in the technology that would uplift common drop points within nontraditional career paths; ensuring that when one opportunity ended, another was already poised to begin. Despite the positive perspective, my husband and our family had found ourselves in a place unexpected, having invested so much into a venture and then not knowing how or when productions & sets would open again to bring talent professionals back to work or what all of the turmoil would mean for our careers, our lives & our organization moving forward. I knew there had to be a better way for professionals like us. Those who followed nontraditional career paths and deserved to find security and long term prosperity while following visionary dreams that mattered. I knew the better way was in the blueprint I was holding, evolved from years of R&D and personal lived experiences, and I wasn't willing to give up on the belief that such a pursuit of purpose was any less worthy of the chase, despite the hurdles we were facing... the opportunity was worthwhile, so we kept on course with our commitments.

I remained devoted to seeing our work through, despite hardship-- doubling down on the belief that innovation does not begin with capital, it begins with authorship and rises to the occasion of deep commitment.

As a mom, my organizational leadership and my work was personal andI wanted to contribute to an evolved education-to-career landscape that inspired children through comfortable and happy learning environments that would uplift their discovery and development into broader ranges of skillsets & talents-- opening new ways for young people to chase what they wanted to chase & to ensure that these development pathways, which start from such foundations, would then lead to prosperous, long term outcomes. The R&D pathways that started with the founding of such a vision, had overcome obstacles and now faced hardship while we continued to lay the pavers toward our organization's next chapters; this time we would do so with a refined blueprint and visual deck in hand-- a plan that held many years of my family's commitments and sacrifices--- a contribution I will forever consider the vision of a lifetime... we called it the AP Future Careers Initiative. 

We eventually made it back home to our community, and with little resources & huge aspirations, we again set out to bring forward our refined system design and smart technology blueprint-- a framework to bridge individuals with ongoing lifelong opportunities based on their interests, skills, talents and limitations in order to discover, unlock and chase their dreams; opened through specific individualized functions and learning & career pathways managed by smart technology that ensured no drop points in the career lifecycle. A circular model designed to feed the soul of the individual, embrace community connections, drive thriving regional & responsible commerce and support healthy families by ending unemployment... a blueprint to enable the building of thriving regional ecosystems.

Crossing this bridge in our organization's history, we had organically stepped through each process of developing the system infrastructure. The public facing offerings we grew over time had long allowed our community to travel the journey with us as we made our way from evaluating and supporting early education to middle and high school then career lifecycle management, and how it all funneled into commerce infrastructure-- these eras leaving a wake of successful pilots, effective program models & IP we developed, trialed and offered with genuine care. Very honestly, we had no idea of the significant ripple effect we had already made, because we were unaware that early along the way, the intellectual property and trade secrets we had invested our lives into developing had been breached, and this would ultimately dictate how the blueprint I authored would come into broader landscapes. It would be another 5 full years of actively and exhaustively seeking venture capital, grants and alliances, while encountering many mishaps, before we ever knew that others had already made their own plans with our life's work.

Blindly within the same landscapes of such duplicity, we trudged on, ever seeking the funding that we were so prepared to lead a long awaited kickstart of our solution with; a plan that we had mapped would begin within the influential genres our experiences provided the most intel toward-- talent, creative, new media, wellness, education, and athletics-- selected for the complexity of the development pathways that most often include substantial, irregular part time & gig work, and many pivots-- sectors that would build a substantial proof of concept to then grow from. I designed the system specifically with functions and capabilities that, by design, could & would flex and adapt quickly to rapidly evolving shifts within key growth sectors and would benefit the individual career lifecycle through personalized supports that focused on financial literacy, holistic wellness, evolved education-to-career bridge supports, workforce development and entrepreneurial network building in order to improve outcomes. As we introduced our solution, I came to understand that its framework design & functions made the blueprint exceptionally relevant and valuable to leaders across all sectors and regions, (many who, we would come to know later, had already been tasked with its integration).

Since 2016, we have been supported by a small team of partners with talents & skills we respect. However, despite such a capable team, highly valuable plan, clearly worthwhile organizational outputs and our continued perseverance, we were not gaining the venture capital we required. This didn't halt our perseverance, because we could see and feel that society had stepped into an entirely new era, largely defined by disruptive technology, calling on the need to align humanity in harmony with purpose, wellness and a defined value for skilled and creative human contributions-- transformations that required attention and guardrails. Development and commerce landscapes were quaking through these transformations we our previous research had provided intel were coming; driving a need for new skillsets as a workforce and for improvements across education's content and form in order to better bridge the gap between uniquely skilled, talented, and creative workers and their long term opportunities. All these shifts contributing to a rapidly evolving skills-based economy as automation charted its course. These shifts compounded the value of the blueprint we had in hand which served as a roadmap to meet such demands & improve lives, outcomes, society and the planet.

The AP Future Careers Initiative was our organization's North Star, holding the promise of the boundless possibilities that lie within each talented, creative and athletic person we aimed to support...making their long term prosperity our mission, their continuously evolving growth our commitment and the positive impacts of the contributions they would make... a legacy we could feel proud to be a part of.

We knew God paved the road we traveled, so we never doubted the course; continuing to connect through community partnerships, leadership meetings and ongoing pilots with unwavering commitment and belief that each approach would eventually empower & uplift our efforts, granting the long overdue venture capital we required.

Despite 12 years of authentic dedication to bring forward our revolutionary solution, our efforts are left unfinished, led forward, instead by interpreted versions. While the impact of the blueprint I authored is broadly felt today through access others gained from our relentless pursuits & investments, it has meant that not all objectives have been carried out with the same integrity that was intended. Still, vast system integrations across multiple sectors and regions have proven concept and as the author of such a blueprint, I can see across these broad landscapes the contributions of our family's lives, bios, organizational brand, breadth of IP, program models & years of sacrifice, which offer many benefits for others to gain. It is a bittersweet feeling of honor to know how broadly the IP I wrote has traveled, despite not having been invited to the party we planned-- and despite the different themes.

Our experience has forced me to reckon with what it feels like to observe an over 12 year life commitment brought to growing fruition, multiple times over, led by others who had advantageous position in our interactions. Recently, this reminded me of a character from the film Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. There is a scene in the movie when Connelly enters an outside garden with adversaries who front as helpful assistants to aid her efforts in finding her way into the Labyrinth. She can't see the hidden entrances that will drive her successfully toward the objective of saving her kidnapped baby brother, so she must rely on their trusted direction. Once inside, aided by a helpful suggestion, she becomes overwhelmed with the frustration of her immediate circumstances, and seemingly endless corridors that lead no where, cunning helpers who lead her toward dead ends and the fear she has for her brother, as she eventually releases such frustrations, yelling out, "What a horrible place this is! It's not fair!" Through her journey, she eventually realizes that it's the unfairness of her circumstances which she will need to accept as a reality if she is to overcome the forces that dictate her steps forward toward finding her brother and bringing him back home.

Our experience has brought forward questions I felt are worth exploring in light of the common and somewhat flippant practices I encountered throughout my everyday business dealings as a values-based entrepreneur, while I sought required mentorship, partnership, support and alliances to bring forward my solution. A review of my pathway, reveals multiple interactions where complete disregard of fiduciary duty, confidentiality, contracts and agreements that were meant to protect ideas, concepts and, in my case, fully articulated intellectual property-- but instead led to complex challenges and outcomes. Practices & circumstances that won't serve in a skills based economy that relies on the vitality of entrepreneurship, with founders who will, more and more surface from nontraditional pipelines. 

At such a juncture, I believe we have the opportunity to CHOOSE to evaluate & build more ethical pathways that respect our joined humanity and refuse to tolerate the leveraging of position to manipulate or falsely own another's intellectual property, trade secrets, ideas, commitments, earned recognition or other. Such intentional choices can create a more effective, honorable system that connects original authors with the resources, protections, recourse and viable opportunities necessary to bring their visions fully to life as a more valuable contribution to society. But first we must evaluate the questions that are brought forward as we navigate new & evolving circumstances with grace for the process:

• As the 21st century continues to evolve, welcoming a skills-based economy, we can ask: what value we will place on ethics-- and the policies and pathways that protect authorship, intellectual property and original ideas-- to ensure such pursuits have the opportunity to flourish as they were intended.
• What is the cost to society, to the author & to their family-- when ethical pathways fail to protect the intellectual property, authorship and original ideas of visionary leaders who seek direction, information and resources from respected leadership sources in order to bring their valuable solutions forward-- especially considering the evolution of more nontraditional pipeline sources?
• Can a skills-based economy truly thrive if innovation is routinely separated from its authors, replaced by machines without guardrails or sourced only from traditional pipelines-- often allowing those with greater access, position, or influence to receive recognition, opportunities and rewards intended for those who conceived the creative vision?
• Will position instead of merit continue to determine which entrepreneurs are elevated, while increasing the societal cost of altered plans no longer guided by those who walked the journey to conceive them?

Evolved circumstances indicate that innovation has become one of society's greatest economic resources, therefore, it must be worth protecting those who create it as one of society's greatest responsibilities. Considering a skills based economy depends upon human ingenuity, then the protection of authorship must be regarded as essential infrastructure without ethical compromise, in order to maintain the rhythm of a circular flow and thereby its positive output.

When reflecting on the challenges that drove me to author the AP Future Careers' blueprint & smart technology user pathway through my family's experiences & investments and persevere past hurdles--- I could never have known how timely & relevant the solution would become, despite my understanding of the value it could contribute, having traveled our own challenges, experiences to develop it. Nor could I have imagined that the blueprint would provide such an effective roadmap and become so valued by so many. It is nice to know that such a contribution forever holds the opportunity to serve the public benefit as it was designed and intended to do... a legacy my family and our organization do feel proud to have contributed.

Through our experience, I offer this final thought to anyone so privileged to be offered the opportunity that another would trust in sharing their life's work, ideas, concepts or intellectual property while seeking assistance they believe you possess and would offer toward their intent to uplift such a human contribution as an idea, a plan or a strategy--- don't diminish the sanctity of our systems, or the ethics of your duty of care, leadership, friendship or character in how you position such an opportunity to uplift another... for the ripple of that small pebble's drop can travel much further than the moment's simplicity might indicate... 

Extending from our years-long commitments toward the AP Future Careers Initiative,

the AP Ambassador Initiative continues our family's legacy by supporting talented, creative & athletic individuals who chase their dreams within today's evolving ecosystems--- providing SCHOLARSHIP & DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES for their prosperous outcomes...

LEARN MORE, DONATE, RECEIVE OUR SUPPORT OR BECOME A SUPPORT PARTNER: 

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