This month on the WIN-NextGen™ podcast, I sat down with my longtime friend Joe McCue, founder of Pencilwrench, to talk about how automotive careers have changed. The picture many parents, educators, and young people still hold is decades out of date.

Over the past two months, I have shared insights from my WIN-NextGen™ Future of Work Executive Roundtable collaborators, Shawn Olds in June and Sania Khan in July, about how AI is reshaping leadership and workforce strategy. This month, I want to bring the discussion closer to the individual, particularly the next generation preparing to enter the workforce.

This month I am pleased to introduce Sania Khan, a labor economist who spends her days studying where the workforce is heading and what it means for the people living through the change. Few voices think as clearly about how AI, jobs, and human potential fit together.

Summer is a season for exploration, growth, and new experiences, and we know many of our readers are on the move. For June, July, and August, we've introduced a streamlined summer newsletter experience with two tailored editions: one for our NextGen members and one for our broader community of parents, educators, employers, partners, and supporters. Each edition highlights the stories, opportunities, and insights most relevant to its audience while keeping you connected to the future

As we move through May, I continue to be inspired by the conversations, partnerships, and momentum building around workforce innovation and the future of opportunity for our NextGens. While much of this season has focused on strategic meet-and-greets and relationship-building, these moments are critical to expanding the ecosystem needed to help young people thrive in the evolving world of work.

Pathways. Pipeline. Possibilities. April was a full month focused on engagement with NextGens and Future of Work leaders around those “3-P’s”. From meeting with students and parents at the Every Girl Can Leadership Conference held at Bowie State University and the McKinley Tech High School Saturday Enrollment Day in Washington, DC, to podcasts with insightful multi-generational guests, and to our first Future of Work Executive Roundtable event, to name a few memorable April moments.

It has been an immersive month of meaningful connections, community engagement, and purposeful work; and the momentum continues to build with every conversation and every room we enter.

It is hard to believe that just six months ago, we set out on a mission to inspire, and build capacity for interconnected workforce pipelines across the 3S Workforce™. Today, we are celebrating a major milestone: half a year of WIN-NextGen™. This journey has been defined by one thing above all else: connection. From the very beginning, our goal was to bridge the gap between NextGens and industry leaders, and seeing this community grow has

This month has left me both inspired and hopeful. I had the joy of leading a hands-on STEM learning session with Head Start youngsters with my Prince George's - MD The Links, Incorporated committee co-chairs, focused on the “E” in STEM - Engineering.