Last fall, when I was beginning to see the end of the road for Evolving Minds, my wife and I traveled to Portugal. Whenever we go abroad, we like to do a local food tour. My wife asked our guide a great question, like she always does, “What’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed between American and Portuguese culture?” The guide said, “In America you live to work, and in Portugal we work to live.”
This summarized what I had been feeling. Since founding Evolving Minds in 2020, I have invested immense time and effort into advancing a mission. But celebrating my 30th birthday in February led me to further reflect on, How do I want to invest my limited time on this earth?
I concluded that I had spent too long putting this mission before living a full life.
Now, my mantra is “Work less, live more.” I repeat it in my mind when I feel myself being sucked down the unhealthy American work ethic rabbit hole again and again.
“Work less, live more.”
“Work less, live more.”
“Work less, live more.”
So, that’s my focus now. Living! My wife and I moved into our first home in May and we’re thinking about kids. I’m slowly getting involved in my neighborhood and contemplating how I can volunteer and give back where I live. I recently nervously raised my hand at my neighborhood association meeting, where I did not know anyone, and said, “I want to support our park. How can I help?”
At that meeting, I gave my email to a neighbor who sat next to me. Before leaving, I leaned over, shook his hand, and said, “Hey, we should grab beers sometime.” A few weeks later, we actually met up at our neighborhood bar. We had a great conversation and did not talk about work for 75 minutes, which was a new and good experience. The next morning, I was leaving our neighborhood cafe when I saw my new friend walking toward it. I smiled upon greeting him. He said that he was taking a mental health day from work. “I could use one of those," I laughed. We chatted briefly about Man’s Search for Meaning, a book I had read many times in undergrad when going through periods of psychological suffering. I dropped it in his mailbox on a run that day.
I’m investing my energy now not just in work relationships, but in relationships outside of work. Almost a decade ago, I attended the University of Maryland, where I had a male friend group that I lived with and saw almost daily for four years. After graduation, I wasn’t tending to these old friendships, nor was I making new friends my age because most of my days were consumed by Evolving Minds. That’s a recipe for a lonely life.
I’m thinking a lot about, How do I want to build community? It’s a welcome shift in my priorities from a state of constant individualistic striving, doing, achieving, more, to a greater stability and enduring feeling of togetherness and harmony.
Another question that has helped me navigate this transition is, What is the best way to create change in our society? While I originally thought the nonprofit model was the answer for me, I am now not so certain about that. So, in January, I launched a new social venture, Anthony Sartori LLC, to again experiment with fostering social impact, but this time through a different lens, in the hopes of making creating change more sustainable (and fun!) over the next phase of life.
The purpose of this new venture is to build a connected society, an evolution of the Evolving Minds mission.
I have also been working on a book for six years and am almost at the finish line. Unmasked tells the story of being an essential worker in a Baltimore grocery store during the pandemic. The goal of the book is what I’ve been working on with Evolving Minds since the beginning: raising awareness of how workplaces directly impact our mental health and overall wellbeing.
In early 2027, I’ll launch a Kickstarter campaign for those who want to secure a copy and to support my efforts to foster culture change. I think this book is my best project yet. My mother-in-law, Renee Lachman, an incredible artist, is creating the illustrations. Here’s a sneak preview of the cover art:
Along with writing, public speaking remains at the center of my work. Earlier this year, I spoke at multiple billion-dollar companies about mental health in the workplace. I led a connection workshop for high school students, taught a stress-reduction mindfulness technique to university professionals across the state of Ohio, and presented right here in Baltimore on my decade-long photography project illustrating the relationship between technology and our epidemic of loneliness and isolation.
This September, I will be the keynote speaker at the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation’s Nonprofit Sustainability Series. My presentation, Creating a Culture of Connection at Work, will help 50 executive directors, CEOs, and board members build work environments rooted in vulnerability, belonging, and trust.
In October, I will travel to New Jersey to deliver another keynote, Beyond the Grind: Understanding Achievement Culture in Highschool, which will help 300 seniors better navigate the cultural pressures that lead to student burnout.
In November, I will keynote a nonprofit summit, co-hosted by The Dresher Foundation and the Community Foundation of Harford County, for 50 executive directors. My presentation, Thriving Workplaces: Building a Culture of Connection, is centered around the former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy's Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being.
You can now book me to speak through Anthony Sartori LLC, and I will continue to speak through two national speaking bureaus: Active Minds, one of America’s leading youth mental health nonprofits, and Weave: The Social Fabric Project of the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit fostering civic and social trust in our divided country.
In closing, I will always wear many hats and be involved in many social impact projects. Evolving Minds was just the beginning of my social entrepreneurship career. I remember that early on in 2020, I had a meeting with a mentor who asked me what I hoped for with Evolving Minds. I responded, “To build something beautiful and then let it go.”
I am now in the pursuit of what it means to live a good life. Of working less and living more joyfully. Carefully choosing how and where I invest my attention while still furthering the missions that I believe in.
For all of you who have been a part of my journey through Evolving Minds, I owe each and every one of you a deep bow of gratitude. Thank you for cheering me on. Thank you for the years of financial, emotional and intellectual support. Thank you for everything!
I am excited for this next chapter.
With hope,
Anthony Sartori
P.S. One of my future blog posts will dive deeper into the immense business difficulties of being a nonprofit - from the funding challenges to the institutional barriers and sector-wide issues that ultimately led to the closing of Evolving Minds.