2025 Highlights
Inspired by the trend at Spotify, LinkedIn and GoodReads to feed us all a recap of our year on their apps, I’ve come up with my own year in review. It’s fun to see patterns emerge, and gratifying to realize how much I actually did accomplish in twelve months.
26
Pink Pineapple Posts published on my site!
That’s an average of two per month, which is pretty cool considering I’ve been a bit down on myself for slowing down lately. Taking a look at my analytics, here are the top 3 most popular, in case you missed it:
It’s Not Time Yet… Understanding the 95/5 Rule Read this one to see how the goal for marketers is shifting from “sell more bananas now” to earning increased mental availability with customers who mostly exist in the future.
5 FREE AI Tools to Play with Today This post is actually from late 2024, but still getting clicks! Check it out for my top free AI tools, including for creating visuals.
My 2025 Reading List This one is from early this year – and still going strong. It’s amusing to look back and see what I did and didn’t end up reading. I guess this means I’ll need to share my 2026 list soon as well… some may be carry-overs from this year.
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books read!
Quite surprisingly to me, it’s turned out to be a 50-50 mix of fiction and non-fiction. This is a dramatic change from years past, both in quantity and makeup. Usually I read around twelve books, all novels. I set a goal of a 70-30% mix of novels-to-non-fiction for this year. This is the order in which these books were read… Scroll to the bottom of my list to see my picks for top book(s) of the year.
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime by Leonie Swan
Sinkable: Obsession the Deep Sea and the Shipwreck of the Titanic by Daniel Stone
James by Percival Everett
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
Cynefin: Weaving Sensemaking into the Fabric of Our World by Dave Snowden, et al.
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
Big Bad Wool (Sheep Detective Story, #2) by Leonie Swann
A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins
A Keeper by Graham Norton
How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed by Ray Kurzweil
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality by Max Tegmark
A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci
Best Book of the Year: There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. I can’t stop thinking about this sweeping story that tied together the Thames and the Tigris rivers across centuries. Sometimes I wish for things from books to become real, and the tattoo shop from this novel is one of them. How cool would it be to have a Gilgamesh scholar envision a personalized cuneiform tattoo for you? The roots of language showed up repeatedly in my reading this year, and cuneiform is one of the earliest known forms of written language. It’s stylized and artful, and so anciently beautiful.
Runners Up: How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil was illuminating, also unexpectedly warm and almost a love letter to the awesomeness that is the human brain. One thing I especially loved was the quotes that began each chapter, which included excerpts of poetry by Emily Dickinson. Her stanzas (peppered with em dashes) keep echoing in my mind, a sometimes dissonant refrain in the background of all the AI noise. Another one with incredible staying power for me is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. The context offered by this work has fostered massive shifts in my perspective on many topics, from religion to evolution and the future of humanity.
12
Soapbox Media stories published
I’ve been writing for the local solutions-based journalism outlet Soapbox Media for just over two years, covering an eclectic mix of topics. In 2025, my editor put me on the AI beat. I ended up writing 5 AI-focused stories, including how companies of all sizes utilize AI as well as how universities in greater Cincinnati are preparing their students to make their way in an AI-infused world of work. These two were my personal faves:
It’s Not So Bad to Be Stuck in the Middle with AI Talking to Jorge Perez, President and CEO of the Cincinnati YMCA, for this story was a conversational highlight for me this year. His generosity of spirit and bedrock kindness shined through as we spoke, and I was so struck by his mindset of continuous growth and learning. It’s so amazing how he’s been able to utilize AI to further the mission of the Y to serve its communities. His perspective is a reminder that AI is a tool, and it matters how you train it and use it.
The AI Sherpa Will See You Now For this story, I interviewed Brandon Z. Hoff, who is doing mind-blowing work utilizing AI to maximize his productivity. Like other pioneers leaning into this technology, he’s become a super-user which effectively allows him to do 5X more work than an unaided human.
I also wrote about Cincinnati-area universities incorporating AI into their curricula, in How Cincinnati Universities Are Embracing AI While Prioritizing Ethics. And I talked to several AI early adopters in Cincinnati and curated a list of their favorite tools and how they use them for AI Adoption Is a Mindset Shift. In a story titled When It Comes to AI, the Little Guy (Finally) Has the Advantage, I looked at how really small businesses and solo-preneurs can be incredibly nimble and flexible with using AI, unencumbered by much of the red tape and bureaucracy that can encumber large-scale corporations.
However, my favorite stories focused on the summer trend toward 90s nostalgia. That’s the era of my youth—pre cell phones, social media and overly involved parents. I remember the time fondly, and it was satisfying to think about how we can all bring some of that vibe into the current reality, for ourselves and for our kids, too.
The Bozsan kids with sprinkles.
How Should Summer Really Feel? Cue the 90s For this one, I used a parallel construction of “remember when…” answered with “get the vibe by…” It’s focused on summer, but many of the ideas work year round.
10 Ways to Give Your Kids a 90s Summer I was struck by how many of the ideas on this list are free or really inexpensive. For winter, I’d add family game nights and puzzles.
How 90s Music Roots Influence Cincy’s Music Scene Today This one sent me down a sonic memory lane that ended with me making my own Spotify playlist that’s a soundtrack of my teens and early 20s. It’s quite different than the list that was published with the story, which encompassed a more pre-teen take. I was young, but stretching into adulthood, with me in college for some of the last drips of the 90s.
This newsletter was the first expression of Huntington’s new brand!
8
Prosper Newsletters sent to 1.1MM inboxes
After a Herculean effort to get this newsletter for Huntington stood up and running, we’ve published 8 issues in 2025. That’s 16 articles in total, showcasing some super smart Subject Matter Experts. Check out the strategy behind the newsletter here.
Here are the most popular articles according to our analytics:
10 Smart Habits of Multi-millionaires In this article, or wealth advisors give us a sneak peek at how their wealthiest clients think about money.
5 Psychological Tricks to Help Save More Money Behavioral scientist Wendy de la Rosa blew my mind with her insights on how to work WITH your psychology to develop healthier money habits.
The HSA Triple Tax Play: Turn your Health Account into a Retirement Powerhouse Personally, I learned the most from this one. TLDR: don’t spend your HSA money if you don’t have to. It’s an investment account you’ll need to pay for your health expenses in retirement. Also, keep your receipts. There’s no deadline for reimbursement—you can pay yourself back years or even decades later!
An eclectic mix of journals, some random ones we already had around the house, others purchased specifically for this activity.
5
journals filled
I can officially say I’ve finished five journals in 2025—and already a few pages into a sixth. Candidly, I feel like I’m losing a little steam lately and am looking for some fresh prompts and methods to rejuvenate my practice. I signed up for a Journaling Workshop with my good friend Elisabeth Andrews on January 10th to ramp up my energy here. I’ve also been incorporating more art and mixed media into my journal, even attempting self-portraiture (turns out I have zero idea how to draw faces). Probably my favorite thing is to cut out my kids’ artwork and paste it in.
Missed the start of my journaling journey? I wrote about it back in January… just scroll past all the love list content to get there.
1
book edited
In some multiverse or other, I am definitely collaborating with talented authors as a gentle yet firm book editor. It’s still on my “dream job” list, but not likely to happen in my current reality. However, I did have the pleasure of editing my lifelong friend Dr. Kevin Berkope’s book this year, The Age of Storytellers: A GROWTH Framework for Teaching Mathematics with Purpose. It was a challenging and deeply rewarding experience, and I’m extremely proud of Kevin and the book. I’m grateful to have played a role in its development. As a parent, I learned so much that hopefully will make learning math a more positive experience for my kids than it was for me.
