It started with a simple question…
Are we just alive, or are we

still living?

Meet Kelley, LSW, Founder

Smiling woman with wavy hair wearing a white sweater and gold jewelry, sitting in a cozy living room with bookshelves, a lamp, and indoor plants in the background.

I believe every chapter of life deserves to feel like your life.

I’m Kelley Lewis, a Licensed Social Worker, entrepreneur, MSW student, and founder of Path to Purpose.

I’m deeply curious about people and the lives we build: who we become, what gives our lives meaning, what happens when our roles change, and how we find our way forward when life doesn’t look the way we thought it would.

That curiosity is at the heart of Path to Purpose.

My vision is to create a place that helps people across the lifespan navigate life’s transitions with greater intention — from young people making decisions about their futures, to adults navigating relationships, careers, divorce, empty nests and reinvention, to older adults experiencing retirement, loss, aging and mortality.

Not by telling people what their purpose should be, but by helping them quiet the noise, remember what matters, and build a life that feels aligned with who they are now.

Path to Purpose is growing toward a purpose focused therapy practice alongside research, education, community, immersive experiences, and programs like In Good Company, our first program created specifically for older adults.

At the center of all of it is one question:

Given the life I have today, how do I live it well?

Because purpose isn’t found. It’s practiced. And there is still life to live.

Meet Lee,
the original In Good Company Podzy

A collage of six photos showing various moments with elderly men, young women, children, and a man with a puppy in different settings, including outdoors and indoor therapy sessions.

My dad, Lee, was an avid golfer. He had his own word for his golf buddies: “Podzy”

“Podzy,” his version of “partner.” A Podzy was your buddy, the person beside you for the round and for the day.

I was always a daddy’s girl, and Dad was one of my biggest supporters. As he got older, our relationship changed. For a time, he lived in a nursing home and hated how small his world had become. Eventually, I helped get him back home with my mom, and Dad and I started having our little “dates.”

We’d get lunch, go for drives, sit in the sunshine, visit puppies, and even get manicures and pedicures. A favorite was Five Guys for his strawberry milkshake. Those days taught me that some of the most meaningful parts of life are also the simplest: somewhere to go, something to look forward to, and someone you love beside you.

Dad spent his final months at home. I miss him terribly. When I visit his grave, I still bring a strawberry milkshake to share while I play his favorite songs, “Clair de Lune” and “Danny Boy.” In a small way, it feels like we’re having another one of our dates.

In Good Company, a program of Path to Purpose, is my way of carrying some of what Dad and I shared forward—bringing more joy, connection, love, experience, and purpose into the lives of older adults.

And the people who provide that good company? I call them Podzys.

He was my Podzy first. And he’ll always be the original.

What is a Podzy?

Five men standing on a golf course, holding golf clubs, dressed in golf attire, with trees and other people in the background.

Podzy began as my dad’s word for “partner.”

An avid golfer, he used it affectionately for the buddies who joined him on the course — the people beside him for the round, the conversation, the laughs, and the experience.

At In Good Company, we’ve carried his word forward.

A Podzy is more than a companion. They’re someone who shows up, gets you out into the world, shares new experiences, encourages meaningful living, and makes ordinary days something to look forward to.

They might be your lunch partner, walking buddy, adventure companion, sounding board, creative sidekick, or simply the person who says, “Come on, let’s go.”

Because sometimes the difference between simply passing the time and really living it is having the right person beside you.

Everybody needs a Podzy.

The WHY Behind Path to Purpose

Skydivers exiting an airplane in mid-air, with one skydiver reaching out towards the camera, under a clear blue sky.

I kept hearing people say, “I want to do what you do when I retire.” And I kept thinking: Why are we waiting?

I’ve always been curious about life. I’ve built businesses, lost businesses, built cabins, raised four kids, jumped out of airplanes, gone scuba diving around the world, learned to play the harp, adopted dogs, loved deeply, lost people I love, and started over more than once.

For years, people would look at the way I lived and say some version of, “I want to do things like that when I retire.”

And I kept thinking: Why then? Why not now? Will “then” even exist?

Then life changed mine.

After my divorce, I found myself starting over in my forties and confronting some of those questions personally. Who am I in this chapter? What matters now? What have I been postponing? Those questions ultimately helped lead me back to school for social work.

And then there was my dad.

Near the end of his life, I watched his world become smaller. And I watched some of the simplest things make it feel bigger again: being home, sitting in the sunshine, sharing a meal, hearing music, getting out into the world, and spending time with someone he loved.

Dad taught me something I haven’t forgotten: living fully isn’t necessarily about doing extraordinary things.

Sometimes it’s jumping out of an airplane.
Sometimes it’s a strawberry milkshake.

My dad always told me, “Enjoy the journey.” He even made me a plaque with those words engraved. I understand them differently now.

What matters is being awake enough to your own life to recognize what makes it worth living — and not assuming you’ll get around to it someday.

That became the WHY behind Path to Purpose.

Life gives us moments that wake us up: graduation, marriage, parenthood, success, divorce, an empty nest, retirement, loss, illness, aging and eventually death. I believe those transitions can also become invitations to remember who we are, reconsider what matters, and realign the life still in front of us.

And maybe mortality belongs in that conversation more than we like to admit.

I believe remembering that life ends can teach us how to truly live.

That belief is shaping everything being developed through Path to Purpose — from purpose focused therapy and research to education, community, immersive experiences and programs like In Good Company — all designed to help people reconnect with what matters and participate more fully in the life they have now.

And this is only the beginning. More programs, research, resources and experiences are already in the works, each grounded in that same purpose.

Because purpose isn’t found. It’s practiced. And I don’t think we should wait for “someday” to start living like our lives matter.

Two scuba divers holding hands underwater near a coral reef.
Close-up of a young woman with brown hair and freckles, smiling and looking at a large blue informational sign in a room with beige walls.
A woman with glasses smiling and holding a small, light-colored dog with long, slightly curly fur, indoors.
A small woman holding a young girl on a porch with three children, two boys and a girl, standing next to her in front of a house near a wooded lake.
A man and a woman sit at a table in a cafeteria, with food trays, drinks, and condiments. The man is wearing a red jacket with a U.S. flag patch and is gesturing with his hand, while the woman is smiling at the camera with spaghetti and a salad in front of her.
A woman in scuba diving gear standing outdoors near a body of water with trees and hills in the background.
A woman playing a harp in a warmly lit room, with a bed and someone’s feet in the foreground, candle and flowers in the background.
A woman with short dark hair, glasses, a sleeveless patterned top, and ripped denim shorts, standing on a ladder inside a room under construction. She is holding a hammer, smiling, with one leg raised and foot resting on a nearby object. Tools and construction supplies are scattered around.
Family taking a group photo in a photo booth, with two pictures stacked vertically. The family includes a woman with glasses and a headband, two boys, a man with a beard, and a young boy with red hair. The top photo shows most of them smiling and making different expressions, while the bottom photo has some expressions changed.
A group of five people, three women, one man, and one boy, smiling and taking a selfie together indoors. The woman in the front right is wearing a white cap, and the woman in the middle has long wavy hair and is wearing a black T-shirt with a Nirvana logo. The man behind her is wearing a beanie. The boy in front has light brown hair and is looking at the camera.
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