The One About Patricia and PATHworks
Plus, Chicago EdTech Year in Review, upcoming events, and more!
The EdTech Institute of Chicago has had quite the year. Check out some of our highlights below!
Our community now has 185 members (60% founders, 25% operators, 15% investors).
There were 5 EdTech founders who won TechRise Chicago’s weekly pitch competitions and collectively raised over $125k in funding.
We hosted 14 events at 4 different Chicago venues and got over 600 total RSVPs.
We held 3 virtual sessions to help founders improve their pitching skills, build better GTM strategies, and think more strategically about their brands.
We had 7 sponsors contribute a collective $3,500 to support 3 events for our community.
We launched this newsletter which now has 128 subscribers and a 67% open rate.
Excited for 2025! Full review here.
Founder Spotlight
Meet Patricia Wicks, this month’s featured founder. Patricia is the founder and CEO of PATHworks, a youth development services and consulting firm that equips young adults with the tools to take ownership of their academics and life success, while empowering organizations to align operations and achieve sustainable, mission-driven outcomes. Continue reading to learn more about Patricia’s story!
Windy City EdTech (WCE): What does your company do? What big problem are you trying to solve?
Patricia: PATHworks™ was founded in 2009 to address a critical challenge: young adults often struggle with readiness for adulthood because they lack the skills to make intentional decisions about academics and life. Without these skills, they can feel disconnected from their goals, relying on external expectations rather than developing their own aspirations. This leads to disengagement, low personal accountability, and missed opportunities to thrive. Parents invest significant time and money to support their teens but often feel frustrated when the results don’t reflect that effort. Educators and institutions face similar challenges, as young adults fail to fully engage with programs and resources designed to help them succeed. For over 30 years, I’ve been driven by the belief that when young people are empowered to make intentional decisions and take ownership of their outcomes, they unlock their potential, engage effectively with resources, and build lives aligned with their true aspirations.
Our SynergyBuilding™ Consulting complements this mission by addressing the systems that influence young adults’ environments. By helping organizations align their mission and operations, foster engagement, and build sustainable collaboration, we ensure the same principle of ownership drives meaningful outcomes across teams and communities.
To further this work, our FLOW framework is now being developed into an app to help young people balance academics, aspirations, and actions. This pivot to virtual youth development services and EdTech allows us to expand our reach and impact more people sustainably.
WCE: What sets your product apart from others?
Patricia: PATHworks™ stands out by combining 16 years of proven success with a human-centered approach rooted in our PATH framework—Purpose, Attitude, Tenacity, and Hope. This foundation equips young adults to make intentional decisions, align their actions with their goals, and take ownership of their outcomes.
We are now pivoting to EdTech with the development of the FLOW app, a scalable solution grounded in over 30 years of expertise in youth development. FLOW integrates academic, personal, and aspirational goals, helping young adults balance their mental, emotional, and physical well-being while staying aligned with their purpose. This app represents the evolution of our work, allowing us to serve more young people and expand the reach of our mission.
WCE: How can our community help you?
Patricia: The EdTech community can support PATHworks by providing feedback on our FLOW app prototype as we refine it into a sustainable, market-ready solution. We welcome insights on how the tool can better address the challenges young adults face in building personal accountability and managing their priorities. Introductions to colleges, organizations, and partners interested in improving student outcomes and retention would also help us expand our reach and refine our impact.
You can reach me at patricia@pathworksohio.com or connect with me on LinkedIn!
We’re grateful to be part of a community that fosters innovation and collaboration. In this shared space, we seek not only to receive valuable insights and support but also to contribute meaningfully. By sharing lessons learned from our decades of work in youth development and organizational alignment, we aim to strengthen the tools and solutions that empower young adults and the institutions supporting them to thrive together.
WCE: Why are you building in Chicago? What do you love most about the city?
Patricia: Chicago is home. After 15 years away, returning to this city has been both a personal and professional milestone. The networks I’ve maintained and the incredible new connections I’ve made here have created a supportive ecosystem for innovation and collaboration. Chicago’s vibrant tech community has embraced PATHworks and our FLOW app, accelerating our ability to move from ideation to a prototype in just six months.
What I love most about Chicago is its energy, resilience, and the genuine support of its people. It’s a city that believes in building together, and that spirit has been invaluable as I continue to evolve PATHworks. On a personal note, I love being closer to my daughter, Madilyne, a junior at DePaul University—it’s wonderful to be able to share moments together beyond a screen.
WCE: Do you have one or more co-founders? How did you meet? What are each of your superpowers?
Patricia: PATHworks was founded by me, and while I don’t have a co-founder, my journey has been deeply supported by a network of mentors, collaborators, and experts who have contributed to our growth.
My superpower lies in identifying gaps and creating solutions that are scalable, impactful, and aligned with the needs of young adults and the organizations that serve them. From developing FLOW to integrating SynergyBuilding into our consulting work, my strength is turning vision into actionable, sustainable outcomes.
WCE: What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in building your company?
Patricia: Balancing innovation with sustainability has been one of the most significant challenges in building PATHworks™. The development of the FLOW app continues to be an intensive process of taking decades of coaching experience and translating it into a framework that retains the depth and personal impact of our in-person work, all while navigating the learning curve of EdTech and ensuring it aligns with our mission to empower young adults.
Other challenges include pivoting to virtual services during the pandemic and transitioning back to Chicago to reconnect with my network and position PATHworks™ for sustainability. These experiences have pushed me to grow personally and professionally, relying on the PATH framework and the support of my community to continue serving young adults and building a future that is both innovative and sustainable.
WCE: What are you most proud of with your startup?
Patricia: I’m most proud of creating a scalable framework that transforms decades of coaching experience into a process that can impact young adults on a much larger scale. The development of the FLOW app has taken us from ideation to prototype, and we’re now gathering feedback and letters of interest from universities, first-year college programs, and high schools. With the goal of having our MVP ready by the end of this year, this journey reflects the evolution of PATHworks™ and my unwavering commitment to equipping young adults for success.
A special shout-out to my CTOs, Dan and Andrei, and their team at HyperSense Software for their dedication and partnership in bringing FLOW to market. This process is a true testament to what PATHworks™ stands for: being intentional about pursuing your goals. 2025 is going to be fantastic, and I’m excited to see how FLOW will empower young adults to navigate life intentionally and create meaningful outcomes for themselves, their families, and the systems that support them.
Check out our previous founder spotlights!
Upcoming Events
EdTech Institute of Chicago January Happy Hour
Thurs., Jan. 30 from 5:30-7:30 pm CT
RSVP (Luma)
We’re back with our January meetup! Come say hi to Chicago’s EdTech founders, operators, and investors. First timers are especially welcome!
Such an informative and inspiring piece. I am a product of the Ms. Patricia and PATHworks experience. I’ve applied many tools learned from Ms. Patricia into adulthood and motherhood! ❤️