An Exciting Update on Our Future 😄

Hey everyone,

Got a sweet update for y’all to match this sweet weather 😎

⏪ First, a bit of backstory

When I started Authentic Austin, my goal was simple. Create a space where founders, leaders, and curious people can actually be PEOPLE. That meant connecting in a real, unfiltered way. No fluff, no posturing—just honest conversations about where we're really at. The highs, the lows, and the lessons learned along the way.

Fast forward 8 months to today, and the community has grown beyond what I ever imagined. ~350 people read our newsletter and attend our events, the Capital Factory has sponsored us, and new partnership requests drop in every week.

It’s not just about the wins, it’s about navigating the chaos of life together. Community members have:

• Started businesses together

• Met co-founders

• Created aligned clients

📈 And now we’re at an inflection point

Let’s rewind a few months to November 2024. I’d just come back from a trip to Asia that was cut short by a near-death experience in the Himalayas. As I sat in the clarity that followed, a recurring thought kept coming up.

“What would it look like to become world-class at transformation?“

As this marinated, I realized that I was being called to integrate into a community that deeply understands transformation. I rang up a co-founder in my retreat business and shared this with him. His response was clear: “You have to go to CIIS.”

The California Institute of Integral Studies (or CIIS) was founded in 1968 with a mission to foster transpersonal, integral approaches to transformation. That means education rooted in holistic, proven methodologies like depth psychology, spirituality, and consciousness studies. After speaking with students who went there, I realized it was the next stop on my journey of understanding transformation.

The snag is that CIIS is in San Francisco.

In January, I sat in front of my CIIS application, barely able to write a word. My head was consumed with thoughts of Authentic Austin. “What happens to the community if I move away? So many people have said they feel at home here and want more. But is it really a community if it’s all centered around one person stewarding it? That feels more like a cult of personality. Facilitating this community has been one of the most generative creative pursuits of my life. And now, it might all vanish because I want to move.”

I was stuck in this for a month, hiding from an impending cross-country move that was coming to roost in the fall. At our January event, I opened up to Sandra, a dear friend and member of Authentic Austin. She listened intently and quickly responded, “I love facilitating and would be happy to support you in that.”

I’d pulled in facilitators to support the community before, so this wasn’t a novel idea. But in our conversations over the next few weeks, something new began to come alive.

Sandra is a somatic coach and transpersonal therapist. She’s one of the most fun, grounded, intelligent, spiritual people I’ve ever met. As we talked, I felt new questions began to pop up, like “What would it look like to build something together? What would it look like if this transition is the best thing that could have happened to this community?”

After a few weeks, I called Sandra and asked her, “What if this isn’t a transition, but an expansion? How would you feel about joining as a co-founder and stewarding Austin while I expand the community to San Francisco?”

That question sparked a cascade of creativity. I’m so excited to say that Sandra is joining the community as a co-founder and that we’ll be expanding across the nation in 2025! I’ll set up San Francisco this fall, with an eye towards expanding in New York in early 2026.

In the long term, building community in Austin and San Francisco is not enough. True systemic change must be global and cross-cultural. Our vision is to expand access to integral, community-oriented healing spaces across Asia – beginning in India, where mental health remains stigmatized and vulnerability is often seen as a weakness.

ℹ️ So what does this mean for you?

• Sandra is joining as a co-founder of the community and will be stewarding the Austin chapter!

• We’ll be revealing a new brand over the next few months. We can’t call it Authentic Austin any longer if it’s not just Austin. 😝

• Conscious Connections will continue, with fresh energy injected from Sandra’s facilitation experience.

• We’re hard at work on other ways to connect as a community outside of in-person meetups that don’t sacrifice quality and depth. No unmoderated WhatsApp groups here!

Let’s bridge worlds together. Honored to be on this journey with all of you. 🙏🏾

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