I Wanted Chuck E. Cheese, Got A Nonprofit Instead

Silence can be fertile ground. After five months off the mic, we come back with a plan that finally matches our conviction: design a life skills curriculum for teens, launch a youth nonprofit with Aaron, and weave daily encouragement into the lives of 13–24-year-olds through positive affirmation texts. The path from idea to action wasn’t about finding extra time; it was about telling fear to get out of the driver’s seat.

We walk you through the real work behind building something useful for young people: interview prep that feels natural, resumes that tell a story, financial basics that reduce anxiety, simple tasks like addressing envelopes or writing checks, and mindset training that helps students bounce back. Then we share why we chose a nonprofit model, how we plan to partner with schools and community groups, and what consistent, compassionate messaging can do for a teen on a tough morning. If you’ve been sitting on a vision because someone else already “does that,” this conversation reframes uniqueness as your competitive edge.

There’s also a candid look at boundaries. We talk about quitting the habit of overexplaining, ending people-pleasing, and calling adult bullying what it is. Respecting a clear no protects our energy for the commitments that matter—like mentorship. With two new mentors from a campus leadership program and an upcoming associate’s degree in business management and leadership, we’re aligning structure with spirit, and hustle with health.

Underneath every update is faith: God made only one you. That’s not a slogan; it’s strategy. We hope this story pushes you to make the first brave move—send the email, draft the lesson, book the therapy session, or call the friend you’ve been thinking about. If this resonated, subscribe, share with someone who needs courage today, and leave a review telling us the one step you’ll take this week.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back And New Year Check-In
• 1:18 Dream Jobs And Growing Confidence
• 3:17 Creating A Life Skills Curriculum
• 4:39 Launching The Youth Nonprofit
• 6:20 Living Without Fear And Obedience
• 8:05 Boundaries, People-Pleasing, And Bullying
• 10:20 Mentors, School, And Intentional Time
• 12:00 Faith, Uniqueness, And Be Kind Reminder
• 13:20 Final Encouragement And Social Links

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Truth Podcast with your host Yanni. On this podcast, you'll hear Yanni, family and friends, having open-ended discussions on anything from faith, finances, relationships, and how to stay motivated during life's trying times. Make sure to follow on all social media platforms. The social media link is in the bio. Sit back and get ready to enjoy.

SPEAKER_01: 0:26

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Standing in Your Truth Podcast. I am your host, Yanni. Hi guys, how are you guys doing? How has the beginning of a new year, how has it been for you? I realized when I sat down to record, logged into the platform that my podcast is hosted on, and I realized I had not recorded a podcast episode since September 2025. And I was like, wow, that seems like so long ago. Which I mean, I guess it was about five, right? Wait, September, October, November, December, January. Ah, I was right. About five months ago. But how are you guys doing? I can say that conversation, if I'm correct, the last one was with Taylor, changed my life. I've been full force, moving, not allowing fear to stop me ever since then. She sparked a lot in me, needless to say. But I was having a conversation with my little from Big Brother's Big Sister, and I was told I was gonna record a podcast episode, and it's been a minute, and what should I talk about? And one of the things she told me that she wanted to talk about, so I'm gonna honor it. She wanted me to discuss my dream job when I was younger. Which let's just be honest. I feel like my dream job has changed with my confidence in myself. So I definitely gosh, just don't judge me, okay? But my dream job when I was younger was it started off at one point. I wanted to work at Chuck E. Cheese, mainly because Chuck E. Cheese was a place in my eyes that brought that was happiness for me, and I loved going there, so I wanted to work there, and then it went to wanting to be a teacher, and then it went to wanting to be someone's boss on the jobs that I wanted when I was younger. So I think that I have possibly accomplished two of those. I'm not an actual teacher, but I do teach a life skills class on Tuesday, so I feel like that counts. And see, I've been someone supervisor. Does that count as a boss? I may need to continue to level up and get there. But anyway, so where have I been? Haha, let me give you a full speed uh update on my life. So after recording with Taylor, I actually had a meeting with Taylor and discussed because something that I had been working on behind scenes that no one knew about, or something I've been dreaming of, was creating my own curriculum for the life skills. I teach every Tuesday um life skills, anything from interview skills, resume, growth mindset, overfix mindset. We do finances, we do how to address an envelope, how to write a check, literally just about anything a kid may need to know how to tie a tie. A little bit of everything. So I kind of wanted to possibly look into creating my own curriculum to be able to outsource to schools, nonprofits, um, anyone possibly working with kids to kind of give them a good solid curriculum so that way they're not like me having to dig and find their own. So I sat down with her and honestly, she just poured life into me and showed showed me and told me that it was doable. Like it's up to me if I want to do it. So I've been working on that, and I think with working on that, it also sparked something else in me. Erin and I have been sitting on the idea of starting up our own nonprofit to be able to teach these kids life skills classes, for me to be able to life coach kids, and something else that I have been working on is being able to send 13 to 24-year-olds positive affirmation text messages, which is also ran through the nonprofit we just started. So, needless to say, we've kind of hit the ground running this year. We started off with, you know, my word for this year was to live, to do, and then Pastor Cliff at Hope Alive preached a message on, you know, new level. So it's we're on a new level this year. We're grinding. I'm no longer, I should say it's not even I, we, even though I feel like fear never really was holding Aaron back. So I'm definitely maybe I should go back to I. I am no longer allowing fear or self-doubt to stop me from doing what I do believe God put on my heart for a reason. There are youth that need to be poured into, and I was stopping, I was allowing fear and self-doubt to stop me from doing that. And as soon as I got out of my own way, I just saw all the blessings that come from being obedient, and it has been a great ride. So, note to anyone if God is putting something on your heart, just be obedient and do it, even if it's as simple as calling that person that's been, you know, on your mind for a long time, go ahead and call them. But so that's pretty much been my 2026. It's been great. I've kind of gotten more into my life coaching. You know, I don't have a client. Well, actually, I do I did pick up a client, but I just got it. A client, but even before having a client, I was giving out information, and one thing that I do believe stood out to me was no longer over explaining, and it sounds very simple, but I think for people like myself who used to people please, it's not that simple. Like we think sometimes even our our value is tied into how we explain stuff and if we're worthy enough, and no, I no longer feel the need to do that. If I don't want to go somewhere, I ain't going. If I don't want to do it, I don't do it. Um, don't get me wrong, I hold to my commitments. But when the no is a no, it's just a no. And if I feel like you're pushing me for me to explain why I'm saying no, I'm definitely taking a look at the relationship at that point and double checking to make sure it's serving me. Because we don't do peer pressure as adults. I've been bullied as an adult, and to me, it's the stupidest thing. Like, I don't understand why adults think it's okay to bully other adults. Like you as an adult aren't navigating your own spaces and have hard days. So, why do you think the person you're bullying does not have hard days? Make it make sense. That's right, it doesn't. Cool. And I'm just gonna say if you're an adult bullying adults, go to therapy. There's something that whether you realize it or not, that you are projecting onto someone else that probably is showing something that you wish you can show on yourself, but because you lack the self-confidence or the emotional capability to do so, you bully them. So, yeah. If you need a therapist, let me know. You can DM me and I will let you, you know, know that where I'm going for therapy, and hopefully they have some openings for you. I'm not sure. I don't think that was supposed to go down that. I don't think that was supposed to go down that tangent, but it went. But anyway, so yeah, so life has been good. Just booked. I don't even want to say I'm not, I'm not really booked. I'm definitely choosing um where I'm giving my time and energy to, but um, it's intentional, it's with goals in mind. Oh, I've something I failed to mention is um I joined a program at school that a leadership program that allowed me to get two mentors, which I'm extremely excited about. Just because I do have so many different projects going at the same time, it's good to get some outside input to make sure the projects are making sense and that to make sure they're lining up and you know, just make sure that I am not overwhelming myself. So that's pretty cool. I'm trying to think what else did I have going on. We still have the two dogs. If anyone wants two dogs, even though Aaron probably won't let them go, but we still have them. I actually graduated in May with my associate's degree, which if you've been along for this journey, you know I've been in and out of school. I graduate with an associate's degree in business management and leadership, I believe it is. If not, it's business leadership and management. One of the two. They just updated my major, so I'm a little unsure on the name, but it's one of those two names. So pretty excited about that. But yeah, that's that's kind of that's where I've been. Your girl has been grinding. I would say the best thing to do is to follow me on social media, kind of post there a lot more than I do posting a podcast episode, but I feel like it was time for me to jump back on the mic and give you guys a live update and let you know I'm still here. And I also have some more podcast episodes coming. I have put some requests out to some friends. I need to now go back and say, Hey, you ready to record? Because I got some fire ones that I'm pretty excited about. So, yeah, but that's that's where I've been. But I do want to leave you with this. I just want to say that for any reason, if you feel like you're alone, you're not alone. God is always with you, always, no matter what the situate situation may look like, God is always with you. You are needed, you were loved, you are one of a kind. God created one of you, so that is your superpower. Something I had to tell myself when starting a nonprofit was you know, there's many nonprofits across the world, or there's many, you know, uh life skills curriculum across the world, but guess what? None of it is going to look or be exactly like mine because God only created one me. Only one person has the same brain that I have, which may be the best for the world. But so keep that in mind. Do you be you, be proud to be you and be kind. This week, I believe, is National Kindness Awareness Week or something down those lines, but just be kind. You don't you never know what battles your neighbors are facing? They can smile and be having terrible thoughts about taking their own lives. So just be kind, love your neighbor, and remember that tomorrow is not promised, the next second is not promised. So why are we why do we allow people who don't pay our bills, who probably really aren't even our friends, to dictate what we do and don't do and how we do it? If you think about the fact that you may not even live tomorrow. So you can let somebody else tell you what you can and can't do? Nah. I don't think that's the life we want. So I challenge you to think more of yourself, get a relationship with God, and get into therapy.

SPEAKER_00: 13:26

Peace out, guys. Thank you for listening to another episode of Standing in Your Truth with Yanni. And if no one told you today you are loved, you are beautiful, you are needed, and you matter. Be sure to follow on Facebook at Standing in Your Truth Podcast with Yanni. Also on Instagram, talks with Yanni.